Sporting 0-1 Barcelona: Deflected Adriano strike enough for Barca in uninspiring contest

Barcelona came into the match looking to repeat the emphatic five-goal victory against Sporting de Gijon in 2008 in El Molinon and secure all three points in this weekend’s Liga encounter.

The Catalan's accomplished their feat with a 1-0 victory on Saturday following an early goal by Brazilian winger Adriano.

Barcelona began the match in familiar fashion with the short midfield passing as the club threatened early. In the fifth minute, Brazilian right back Dani Alves passed the ball across the pitch to David Villa take the first touch and drill it in the box when Sporting cleared it for a corner.

The Spanish striker threatened again four minutes later with a searing shot from the left flank only for it to go just over the crossbar.

The away side then netted the only goal of the night when Xavi struck the post with a powerful shot from distance before Adriano followed up with a rebound as his shot took a deflection before reaching past the goal line.

Sporting nearly got level goal in the 41^st minute when David Barral took an elegant first touch in the Barcelona box, only for Eric Abidal to clear it before the shot was made.

The home side began the second half fairly strong as it enjoyed the decent amount of possession in Barcelona’s half.

Eric Abidal showed top class defending after he chased down David Barral with blistering pace to intercept the pass. 

However, the Frenchman suffered an injury shortly after in the 53^rd minute and was substituted with Maxwell coming into the match.

Barcelona began to create chances in the 66th minute when made a David Villa pushed the ball towards goal, only to find his teammates behind him.

The Catalans were showing some fatigue towards the end of the second half as they were giving up some of their ball possession.

Lionel Messi nearly got on the board when he reached a cross, only to head it down towards Juan Pablo.

The away side created the last chance of the match when Messi’s shot towards goal found the feet of Dani Alves to put it in the net, only for the linesman to declare it offside.

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