Daniel Alves was also on target for Pep Guardiola's side, who are now unbeaten in 20 matches and six points clear of second-placed Villarreal in the league. Henry put the home side ahead on 20 minutes, racing onto Yaya Toure's pass and lifting the ball over Valencia goalkeeper Bitto Renan. The Frenchman doubled his tally seven minutes later, collecting Alexander Hleb's neat pass inside the box and calmly slotting home to put Barca 2-0 up. Barca went 3-0 ahead barely a minute into the second half, when the influential Xavi sent Alves through on the right. The wing-back gathered himself before firing firmly into the opposite corner. Valencia were not happy, however, as a flag had been raised against Hleb earlier in the move, but it was ignored by the referee. Barca completed the rout on 79 minutes, when substitute Bojan Krkic cut inside from the right and dragged the ball back to provide Henry with a straighforward tap-in to complete his hat-trick. It was another dominant performance from Barcelona, who attacked with real purpose and completely overwhelmed Valencia. The visitors struggled to assert themselves and barely created anything of note.
Villarreal 3-3 Getafe
Villarreal staged a remarkable comeback to draw 3-3 with in-form Getafe at El Madrigal and avoid falling to a second successive home defeat in La Liga. Estaban Granero, Jaime Gavilan and Javier Casquero were on target for the visitors, who led 3-0 inside half an hour to leave Manuel Pellegrini's side stunned. But Robert Pires's fortunate goal on 55 minutes gave Villarreal hope, before late strikes from Sebastian Eguren and Giuseppe Rossi salvaged an unlikely point and kept the home side in touch with league leaders Barcelona.
Getafe entered the match on the back with confidence high after victory over Real Madrid, and went ahead on 10 minutes when Granero chested the ball before firing an exquisite volley into the top corner. Gavilan put the visitors two up soon after, taking Cosmin Contra's right-wing cross on the volley to fire back across goal into the bottom corner.
On 30 minutes Casquero's left-foot shot from the edge of the box beat Diego Lopez and gave mid-table Getafe a 3-0 cushion at the break. But Villarreal would not lie down. On 55 minutes a goalmouth scramble resulted in a bizarre goal for Pires, when a clearance struck the Frenchman on the chest and looped in. The home side pulled another goal back with five minutes remaining when Diego Leal headed back across goal for Eguren to poke home. Their comeback was complete two minutes later, when former Manchester United forward Rossi drove home through a crowd of players to make it 3-3.
Sporting Gijon 2-5 Atletico Madrid
Sergio Aguero and Diego Forlan led Atletico Madrid to a 5-2 comeback win at Sporting Gijon in another thriller. Sporting's Mate Bilic scored with a header after four minutes but two minutes later Argentine Aguero controlled the ball on his chest and finished with a spectacular overhead kick. In the pouring rain the Sporting keeper spilled a shot for Aguero to poach his second and Uruguay's Forlan stole the ball off a defender to make it 3-1 in the 57th.
David Barral pulled it back to 3-2 with a thunderous shot before Maxi Rodriguez and Forlan made sure of the win for the visitors. Atletico climbed to fifth with 24 points.
Articles
