Barcelona hit four past ten-man Granada

La Liga - Barcelona hit four past ten-man Granada

 

Liga, Nou Camp - Barcelona 4 (Iniesta 20 pen, Fabregas 40 pen, Sanchez 71, Pedro 90) Granada 0

Barcelona made it 13 victories from 14 matches this season as they comfortably dispatched Granada 2-0 at the Nou Camp.

Two first half penalties from Andres Iniesta and Cesc Fabregas gave the hosts a deserved half time lead and after Granada were reduced to ten men after Manuel Iturra received a second yellow, Alexis Sanchez and Pedro Rodriguez completed the rout.
Victory for Barcelona means that Gerardo Martino’s side lead Atletico Madrid by six points at the top of the table with their nearest rivals facing Getafe later on.
Despite missing the injured Lionel Messi, the hosts dominated from the off and Granada had keeper Roberto Fernandez to thank for keeping out Alexis Sanchez’s close range header. But the goal was coming and Barcelona went ahead courtesy of an Iniesta penalty after Dimitri Foulquier clumsily brought down Fabregas in the box.
Granada’s efforts on the Barcelona goal were limited to sporadic long range efforts and Piti rattled Jose Pinto’s bar before Barca doubled their advantage when Fran Rico tripped Iniesta in the box and Fabregas converted from the spot. The match was a somewhat tetchy affair with referee Antonio Mateu brandishing no fewer than five yellow cards.
Iturra was fortunate not to be given his marching orders towards the end of the first half for a foul on Sergio Busquets but he was not so lucky half way through the second half after he brought down Pedro. It sealed his team’s fate and Barca made their advantage pay only five minutes later when Sanchez lifted over the advancing Roberto from Neymar’s cute pass.
And the home side wrapped things up with a lovely move in stoppage time when substitute Sergio Roberto fed Fabregas and his pass was slotted home by a sliding Pedro.

TEAMS:
Barcelona: Pinto, Montoya, Piqué, Bartra, Adriano, Sergio, Fabregas, Iniesta, Alexis, Neymar, Pedro.
SUBS: Song, Roberto, Traore
Granada: Roberto; Nyom, Diakhaté, Murillo, Foulquier; Iturra, Recio, Fran Rico; Brahimi, Piti, El-Arabi.
SUBS: Bounoanotte, Riki, Ighalo.