FC Barcelona played an unforgettable game with four minutes that some might want to forget. Barcelona had to come from behind with just 10 men and without Guardiola on the touchline. Almeria struck early in the first half when Cisma scored a header during a corner kick. Around the half hour mark, Guardiola was sent off by the referee. Nevertheless, Messi equalized for Barcelona near the end of the half with a well taken free kick. The second half though had two minutes of hell as in back to back minutes Puyol had scored an own goal and Ibrahimovic was sent off for a harsh red card. The sending off did not hamper the team’s spirit and Messi once again managed to level the score to end the game in a 2-2 draw. The draw meant that Barcelona now stretched their lead to 3 points ahead of Real Madrid atop of the standings.

For this away fixture, Guardiola put his strongest starting eleven available to him. In goal as always was Victor Valdés with Alves, Puyol, Milito, Maxwell as his line of defense. Milito was replacing the suspended Pique for today’s game. The midfield consisted of last season’s magnificent midfield of Xavi, Touré, and Iniesta supporting the front three of Messi, Ibrahimovic and Pedro. This game also saw the return of last season’s yellow away shirt that the team donned for this encounter. A win would stretch their lead to five points ahead of Real Madrid who are hosting Sevilla today after this game. Prior to kickoff, there was a moment of silence for the victims of the Chile earthquake.

The game started off in Barcelona’s favor with Iniesta getting the first scoring in the opening minutes of the half followed by a weak shot on goal from Xavi that was low and easy for the Almeria keeper, Diego Alves, to save. In the 7^th minute, Barcelona came close to scoring when Pedro’s attempt to either shoot on goal or pass to Ibrahimovic was intercepted and Messi’s effort on the rebound was snuffed out by the presence of Chico and the ball was saved by Diego Alves.

However, Almeria would threaten and strike first blood on their first scoring chance. In the 10^th minute, a turnover by the Barça defense results in Puyol coming to the team’s rescue and blocking a shot on goal into a corner kick. The ensuing corner kick resulted in Cisma heading in the opening goal of the game as he was sandwiched between Ibrahimovic and Puyol and yet managed to head the ball past Valdes. 11 minutes into the game and Barcelona were already down a goal. The last time Barcelona failed to score first was in the loss to Atlético Madrid and this was only the second time that they did not score the opening goal in a league game.

The goal caused Barcelona to play with more pace and resulted in better play and more scoring chances. The next scoring chance was from a long range effort from Alves that easily saved by the keeper in the 14^th minute. Four minutes later, a free kick was awarded inside the box after the referee, Clos Gómez, deemed that Diego Alves picked up a back pass from one of his players inside the box. Unfortunately, the free kick was played to Messi whose shot was blocked inside the box and cleared. Barcelona kept getting their chances and Xavi’s free kick in the 19^th minute from outside the box was brilliantly saved by Diego Alves as he lunged to his right side and tipped the ball for a corner kick.

Almeria would then threaten with a scoring chances in the 22^nd minute with Valdes stopping Guilherme’s shot and Puyol clearing the rebound from harm’s way before Piatti could get to it. Barcelona would immediately then have the scoring chance when Messi brilliantly set up Pedro alone in front of the goal but Pedro’s shot was stopped by Diego Alves and a few minutes later, Dani Alves’s cross was met by a lunging header from Messi that goes wide.

The game would another odd call from the referee when he dismissed Guardiola from the game in the 26^th minute. Guardiola was stunned by this decision and was seen asking the referee what was it that he said that led him to be sent off. Pep did not waste a lot of time arguing and headed for the tunnel and thus left his assistant Tito Vilanova to manage the rest of the game.

As the game resumed, Barcelona kept pressing hard and playing in a frantic manner but Almeria’s Chico was doing a fine job whenever he was around Xavi or Ibrahimovic. The former Barça B player who Guardiola signed midway through his only season at Barça B, now known as Barça Atlètic, was signed by Almeria last season and Chico impressed earlier this season in the home fixture when he was a thorn in Xavi’s side throughout that game. However, Ibrahimovic was able to evade from Chico’s presence in the 29^th minute when Messi delivered a superb through ball but Ibrahimovic blasted the ball a bit high over the ball. After 30 minutes, the game has been played at a fast pace and Almeria was not only content with parking the bus, but hounding the midfield as well to create counter attacks. Meanwhile, Barcelona struggled with the final pass near Almeria’s box and with sloppy passes that nullified any chance of a scoring chance.

However, in the 41^st minute, a free kick was awarded near the Almeria box and Almeria players were not too pleased when the ref made the call. Ibrahimovic had jumped for the ball and standing beside him was Bernardello who did move which resulted in Ibrahimovic landing on him which led to the whistle.  Messi stepped up and scored a beautiful free kick to equalize the game as he elegantly shot the ball over the wall and the ball kept turning slowly to the right post away from the flat footed keeper. A beautiful goal and this was the 18^th goal in the league for Messi.

One minute of extra time would be awarded and in the final seconds, Barcelona would be awarded a free kick far from Almeria’s box and Xavi’s long cross into the box was cleared by the Almeria defense and that would bring the halftime whistle by the referee. An intense first half with a frantic pace after Almeria’s goal combined with some questionable decisions from the referee such as sending off Guardiola, missing the clear foul on Ibrahimovic inside the box at the half hour mark and some confusing decisions for both sides. The fans already were waiving the white handkerchiefs at him and some chanting “Villarato” as the referees walked off the pitch and into the tunnels.

Almeria kicked off the second half with neither side making any changes to the starting 11 and it took 10 minutes either side to threaten but Almeria would be first to threaten. Guilherme again was the one with the chance but his low cross from the left flank was blocked by Valdes and Valdes ultimately grabbed the ball as it bounced it back to him. Another close call for Barcelona but the next four minutes would be those that would plague the team for the rest of the game.

In the 58^th minute, Barcelona once again failed to handle Almeria when it came to counter attacks and they paid for it when Captain Puyol scored an own goal. His desperate lunge to intercept the ball resulted in him tapping the ball into the back of the net to give Almeria a 2-1 lead. Replays showed that Valdes had a chance at intercepting the ball but Puyol’s decision backfired and resulted in giving Almeria the lead. A few minutes later, Ibrahimovic was sent off with a direct red card for some foul at Cisma. Replays showed Ibrahimovic used his elbow to push off from Cisco inside the box. Ibrahimovic’s elbow made contact with Cisma's shoulder. Cisma then fell to the ground and clutched his face and the referee stopped the game and showed Ibrahimovic a red card. His sending off made it more difficult for Barcelona with only 30 minutes left in the game to salvage any points in this game.

With only 10 players on the field and Guardiola sitting high up in rafters, Barcelona fought on and played with an ever faster pace. In the 62^nd minute, a free kick was awarded outside Almeria’s box in the same spot that Messi scored from in the first half. Sadly, Messi’s free kick effort was delivered in the same fashion as his first half goal but this time the ball sailed over the cross bar. Three minutes later, Messi would score yet again to level the game at 2-2. The goal came after Pedro worked his way into the box and delivered a cross that was poorly headed by Almeria’s Guilerhme into Messi’s path who directed the ball into the back of the net for the goal.

Against tough odds, Barça found a way to make a win possible from this game. Unfortunately, there would be no further goals as Barcelona would squander the remaining scoring chances that they had. Barcelona were playing faster and controlling the game even though they were a man down. Their next scoring chance came in the 68^th minutes when Messi’s shot on goal was stopped by the Diego Alves and Xavi’s rebound shot on goal just sailed wide.

Almeria would have the next two scoring chances off counter attacks with the first one being derailed by Puyol as he slightly deflected a shot on goal for a corner kick. Barcelona’s only substitution came in the 73^rd minute when Busquets came in for Touré Yaya. Almeria’s second scoring chance was very close to giving the home side the win when Soriano’s shot went over the cross bar.

Messi would then have the next two shots on goal in the 79^th and 83^rd minutes that were saved by Diego Alves who appeared to have hurt himself as he landed on the ground after the second save. It seems he might have had the wind knocked out of him but it effectively wasted time for Barcelona to try and grab the winning goal. Between those two shots on goal, Barcelona had displayed some beautiful passing to get to Almeria’s box thanks to Xavi and Messi but Iniesta’s touch eliminated any chance of that possession resulting into a scoring chance as Almeria cleared the ball.

With the game nearing the end, Barcelona had 70% possession and Almeria were content with wasting time and settling for the draw. Almeria would have the last scoring chances near the end of the game through their counter attacks such as Piatti’s 85^th minute shot that was blocked by Puyol for a corner kick. A few minutes later, Bernardello’s shot on goal was high and wide and substitute Uche also had a shot on goal go wide a minute later. Four minutes of injury time were awarded but neither side would benefit from the extra time and the game would end in a 2-2 draw. Barcelona were able to salvage a point and temporarily extend their lead atop of the standings to three points but second half mistakes from Puyol and an incredible stupid Ibrahimovic hurt the team in the end. Next up is a home game against Valencia next weekend before they host Stuttgart in the return leg of their Round of 16 Champions League encounter. The big concern will be how many games will Ibrahimovic be suspended for and whether Guardiola will also miss the Valencia game.

Match Info:

UD Almería: Diego Alves; Chico, Pellerano, Domingo Cisma; Juanma Ortiz, M'Bami, Bernardello, Guillerme (Goitom, m. 66); Fernando Soriano; Piatti (Ortiz Bernal, m. 90) & Albert Crusat (Kalu Uche, m. 74).

FC Barcelona: Víctor Valdes; Dani Alves, Puyol, Milito, Maxwell; Xavi, Touré Yayá (Busquets, m. 72), Iniesta; Messi, Ibrahimovic & Pedro.

Goals: 1-0, Domingo Cisma (m. 11), 1-1, Messi (m. 41), 2-1, Puyol own goal (m. 56), 2-2, Messi (m. 66).

Referee: Clos Gómez.

Bookings: Red cards to Guardiola (m. 26), and Ibrahimovic (m. 59).

Edit - Real Madrid defeated Sevilla 3-2 and are now tied with FC Barcelona atop of the league standings but Real Madrid is in first place due to goals difference. However, the league is decided by head to head results and Barcelona is ahead thanks to their 1-0 home win.