Aday and Gorka Iraizoz netted own goals in each half as Barcelona walked away from Girona with a comfy 3-0 win. Aday and Gorka Iraizoz netted own goals in each half as Barcelona walked away from Girona with a comfy 3-0 win. Barcelona maintained their perfect to start the season with the help of two own goals to down Girona 3-0.
MONTILIVI, Girona -- The buildup to Barcelona's 3-0 win against Girona on Saturday was dominated by politics. But, even though he didn't score, the focus after the match was all about Lionel Messi.
For a week previous it had been Catalan independence. This was the first time the two cities, separated by 100 kilometres, had ever met in Spain's top flight. Barca have played six fellow Catalan sides in the Primera Division -- Espanyol, Europa, Sabadell, Gimnastic, Lleida and Condal -- but never Girona, who were promoted in the summer.
That the match fell at the end of a week in which tensions had risen over Catalonia's desire to hold a referendum over independence added to the unique atmosphere. A huge flag saying "Welcome to the Catalan Republic" was hung outside Montilivi, while both sets of supporters united in chants of "Independence" and "We will vote" before, during and after the 90 minutes.
However, once the dust settled on Barca's 3-0 win, which extended their 100 percent start to the season to six games, the focus was once again on Messi.
Pep Guardiola, who coached the Argentine for four years at Camp Nou, was quoted in 2015 as saying it's not possible to stop the five-time world player of the year. "There is not a system or coach to stop talent of Messi's magnitude," the then-Bayern Munich coach had said. "The way he has been playing over the past four or five months, you cannot stop him. He is too good."
Messi went on to dismantle Guardiola's Bayern side in a Champions League semifinal but it is a point that has proved especially relevant this season, too, with Messi scoring nine goals in his first five league games.
Yet Girona did stop him. They didn't manage to stop Barcelona, but they stopped Messi by employing a man-marking system on the No. 10.
"We lost so I'm not happy, but we managed to minimise the input of the best player in the world," said Girona manager Pablo Machin in his postgame news conference. "I don't think Messi was the decisive player that he can be."
Cartoon from Spain on Pablo Maffeo's man-marking job on Lionel Messi yesterday in Girona vs Barcelona. "Honestly Maffeo, the game is over."