Barca smash six past Hibs
by Joseph Caron Dawe, 24 July 2008
Barcelona ran amok at Murrayfield on Thursday evening as they disposed of Hibernian 6-0 in front of the Setanta Sports cameras.
Josep Guardiola handed debuts to a host of his new players, including Alexander Hleb, but it was a player who could be on his way out of the club who opened the scoring in only the fifth minute.
The recently-appointed Guardiola has said he wants to run the rule over forward Eidur Gudjohnsen before he makes a decision on the Icelandic striker’s future, and the former Chelsea man made a great impression on his manager in the former Barca player’s first game in charge of the Spanish outfit.
Dani Alves, making his debut following his move from Sevilla, curled a cross in from the right and when Hibs’ defence failed to clear Gudjohnsen lashed home a pinpoint finish from 20 yards.
Alan O’Brien impressed for Hibs down the left flank in the early stages, but after just a quarter-of-an-hour Barca were two to the good.
Lionel Messi checked in from the right and curled in a delightful finish past the outstretched Andrew McNeil, and two minutes later Gudjohnsen added his second of the game.
Alves and Messi linked excellently before Thierry Henry helped the ball along to the double goalscorer, whose deflected effort flew past McNeil to make it three after just 17 minutes.
Pedrito continued his rise through the Barca ranks with a goal when he mirrored Messi’s earlier effort but from the opposite side of the area.
McNeil denied Messi with a marvellous save as half time approached and the mesmeric Argentine was denied a second shortly before the break when he skilfully rounded McNeil to finish, only to see the offside flag reprimand team-mate Martin Caceres.
The second half had barely gotten underway when half-time substitute and Barca golden boy Bojan Krkic volleyed Caceres’ cutback in, with the Uruguayan assistor impressing.
Steven Fletcher passed up a gilt-edged chance to get his name on the scoresheet and salvage some face for Hibs when he scooped a Colin Nish cross over the bar, and with 20 minutes to go it was six.
Yaya Toure exchanged passes with Caceres inside the Hibs area and finished coolly to give the Catalan side a resounding victory.