Player Ratings: Racing Santander 1-2 Barcelona

RACING SANTANDER

Toño 6 - There was little he could do about either goal. He looked confident when the ball came into the area and he was able to claim it.

Valera 6 - The entire Racing rearguard looked very assured before Messi came on and caused the mayhem that saw him win the game for the visitors.

César Navas 6.5 - Two fouls on Iniesta may have helped stop Barça in the first half and he should be pleased with his own performance.

Oriol 6 - Made a great tackle in the area on Alves and that would have been harsh to see a penalty given against him, which is what the Barça star wanted.

Marcano 6 - Did what was asked of him as he maintained his position and denied the Blaugrana forward line effectively.

Lacen 5.5 - Also put in some hefty challenges as he looked to impose himself on the game, and while he did that on occasion, it was not often enough.

Colsa 6 - Often good going forward, his restrictive instructions meant that he had to sit back and not push up as he would have liked.

Munitis 7- Racing's best player as he looked to cause problems throughout the second period and will be unhappy his side lost.

Toni Moral 6 - Looked comfortable going to the right after being called in to replace Óscar Serrano and was very unfortunate to go off after a bad tackle.

Pereira 6.5 - Was also very quiet after the break, but could have scored in the first half when having two clear shots at goal.

Zigic 5 - Only made it to a five due to the fact that he scored from the spot, because other than that, he was virtually anonymous.

Subs

Sepsi 5.5 - Did well as he had a lot of work to do tracking back to cover Messi, but he was unable to stop the Argentinian.

Tchité 5 - Busied himself and was fouled a couple of times although he was unable to test Valdés.

Luccin 5.5 - Came on in injury time and was able to just jog about a bit before the final whistle blew.

BARCELONA

Valdés 6.5 - Made a good save early on and showed assured handling while not having much to do, as even the goal he conceded was from the penalty spot.

Abidal 6.5 - Had a strong first half down the left, but was somewhat withdrawn after the break as he held back from going forward and focussed on defending.

Piqué 6 - His didstribution is never great, but the bulky defender coped well with the challenge of keeping Zigic quiet before being sent off for a second yellow card in the last minute.

Márquez 5 - Was unfortunate to give away the penalty, but it was a clumsy challenge and that card led to his sending off for a second booking in the closing minutes.

Alves 6.5 - Another lively display, but he could not provide the crosses to trouble Racing, but he may feel aggrieved to have been booked for diving.

Touré 6 - His holding performance was effective as he coped with a busy Racing midfield and did well to break up their forward movement.

Busquets 6 - Put himself about, but against a team that sat back and would only be opened by something special, he was taken off for Messi.

Xavi 7.5 - Creative throughout and he pulled the string as usual as Barça probed and he was unlucky not to have scored with a header that hit the bar.

Iniesta 6.5 - Showed some very good touches and was lively across the area, but he was unable to produce that moment of magic to open his team's account.

Henry 4.5 - Could not find a way through down the left flank and was shown how to do it by Messi, when he should have been able to offer a lot more.

Eto'o 5.5 - Wanted a goal to make it to 100 goals, but never looked likely to score and was consistently blocked out by the busy Racing defence.

Subs

Messi 9 - What more could Guardiola ask for than for the man that everyone was waiting for to go on and single-handedly win his team the game?

Gudjohnsen 5.5 - Had no time to make any great difference to the game when he came on to shore things up in midfeld.

Cáceres 5.5 - Entered the fray in the closing moments after Márquez was sent off and could not do much either.

Lucas Brown, Goal.com



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