Deportivo - FC Barcelona | Sun Jan 17th, 2014 | 13:00 EST / 18:00 GMT / 19:00 CET

FC Barcelona visit Deportivo la Coruña on Sunday at 7.00pm (CET), and Riazor has been a happy hunting ground for the Catalans of late. The sides didn’t meet in either of the 2011/12 and 2013/14 seasons because the Galicians were in the Second Division, but the last three times the fixture has been played, Barça have won every time.

Goals aplenty

Those three games at the home of the side that won the first Liga of the century have produced an average of four goals a game for Barça. In 2009/10, they won 3-1 and a year later went even better by winning 4-0. And the last meeting between the teams, two years ago, ended in a thrilling 5-4 victory for FCB.

Leo Messi has played a decisive role in all those games, scoring six goals in total, including one hat-trick in 2012/13.

Change of fortune

Those results have capped a remarkable turnaround in Barça’s fortunes in this fixture. After the Galicians returned to the top flight in 1991 after an absence of almost two decades, FC Barcelona only won at Riazor in one out of eleven visits, including a run of six straight defeats between 1998 and 2002. But then it all changed. Of the nine games played since, Depor have just one win, 2-0 in 2008.

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/first-team/detail/article/five-years-of-wins-at-deportivo

Barcelona line-up (official):

Bravo
Alves Pique Mascherano Alba
Rakitic Busquets Iniesta
Messi Suarez Neymar

That pass from Rakitic and finish from Messi...

good lord.

Ok, we have our best XI, now it's job to keep it fresh when we need it.

Neymar though.

Harmonica wrote:Ok, we have our best XI, now it's job to keep it fresh when we need it.

the best eleven does not include a single CB we signed over the summer

Messi is in killer form right now. Looks motivated and hungry

windkick wrote:Messi is in killer form right now. Looks motivated and hungry

Agreed, this is the best I've seen him in a while. He looks great.

CBarca wrote:

windkick wrote:Messi is in killer form right now. Looks motivated and hungry

Agreed, this is the best I've seen him in a while. He looks great.

for some reason, he looks like he lost weight too, is that possible? His form is impressive now and that Barca attack is starting to become really, really worrisome.

Hapless_Hans wrote:

CBarca wrote:

windkick wrote:Messi is in killer form right now. Looks motivated and hungry

Agreed, this is the best I've seen him in a while. He looks great.

for some reason, he looks like he lost weight too, is that possible? His form is impressive now and that Barca attack is starting to become really, really worrisome.

Yeah, he's looked much fitter recent, with those "sport" dimples on the face. Possibly has something to do with him rehiring the original fitness coach he had.

I wonder if between Atleti and today Fußball has changed his mind about Rakitic

Rakitic? He's has always been exactly the player we need.

Via Sport:

http://estaticos.sport.es/resources/jpg/0/2/messi-fue-mejor-del-barca-riazor-luis-suarez-peor-1421612271720.jpg

Already turning on Luisito

https://pbs.twimg.com/media/B7qgtSxIQAAunkt.jpg

good game overall lots of errors from buscuit, suarez could do better as-well but overall decent.

BarrileteCosmico wrote:I wonder if between Atleti and today Fußball has changed his mind about Rakitic

He is not what I consider the ideal central midfielder for Barca, technique, vision, accuracy is good but not great. Maybe I'm also blinded by the Xaviesta era which was midfield perfection in every way and thus I might be judging him too harshly. If he plays the way he did in the past 2 games there certainly is not much to criticise him for though, after all there isn't another midfielder in the squad who plays much better than that.

Thought he couldnt make any assists though?

Made 2 great killer balls, one obviously being the goal.