Samuel Eto’o proved that he is the most important striker in Barcelona's squad. In order to make it clear, he scored two and set up another to steer the Spanish champions to a classy 3-0 triumph against Osasuna at the Nou Camp on Saturday.The Cameroon star put his side in front with just over a minute on the clock, added a second after racing on to a clever lofted pass from midfielder Deco and set up Argentine teenager Lionel Messi for the third before the half was up.
In fact, this win made it two wins out of two for the Catalans, who begin the defence of their Champions League crown at home to Bulgarian side Levski Sofia tomorrow.
We must mention that Valencia also made it two from two after an early goal from Spain striker David Villa earned them a gritty 1-0 win away to Atletico Madrid.
Current Champions Barca got off to a dream start in front of their home fans with a beautifully fashioned goal.
Ronaldinho Gaucho skipped down the right flank towards the area and exchanged an intricate one-two with Deco before cutting a pass back towards the near post where Eto’o was on hand to stab the ball past Osasuna keeper Ricardo.
The Blaugrana team settled into their usual slick passing game for the next 25 minutes before Eto’o added a second goal to take his tally for the season to three.
The Barca forward hooked the ball over the advancing Ricardo after he had latched on to a deep pass from Deco that had skimmed off the head of an Osasuna defender.
In fact, Eto’o set up his side’s third eight minutes before the break when he snapped up the ball after pressing Ricardo into a mistake as he tried to clear his area.
After that move, he cut the ball back to Messi who threaded a low shot between Ricardo’s legs to make it 3-0.
It's important to notice that new signing Lilian Thuram, who was in the starting line-up in preference to skipper Carles Puyol, gave an assured performance in the centre of the back four, restricting the visitors to just one clear shot on goal two minutes from time. In the end, it was clear that Barcelona had a very good night.
