With the biggest game of the entire season just a few days away for Pep Guardiola’s side there was some concern that the team would be distracted and not be prepared to go up against La Liga cellar dwellers Xerez.

To start the match Guardiola decided to rest Lionel Messi and Pedro giving Thierry Henry the start and a rare start for Jeffren on the wing.

The move to start Jeffren upfront paid off quickly as the Venezuelan gave Barcelona an early lead 13 minutes in. The goal came off a perfectly placed pass from Xavi that Jeffren was able to control and slip past defenders before loosing his footing just inside the box, only to somehow recover and maintain possession and then firing into the top left corner of the goal beating the Xerez keeper.

Barcelona dominated possession early on and their hard work paid of once again 10 minutes later. Their second goal came off of an unselfish display by Zlatan Ibrahimovic who received the ball from Keita and could have beaten the Xerez keeper but instead opted to pass to a wide-open Thierry Henry who put it in the open goal.

Having a early two goal lead it looked like Barcelona were going to be able to just coast for the remainder of the match. Unfortunately those hopes were quickly dashed just a minute after Henry’s goal off a careless play by Chygrynskiy. Chygrynskiy gave up the ball in Barcelona territory to Bermejo and sent a rocket into the top corner of goal giving Victor Valdes no time to react. The goal gave new life to Xerez but they were unable to equalize before halftime.

To start the second half Xerez changed their formation looking to take a more offensive approach and equalize against Barcelona. Seeing an opportunity Guardiola decided to bring in Lionel Messi and Gerard Pique in the 52nd minute to give his side more firepower. The move paid off almost immediately when Ibrahimovic added a third goal in the 55th minute setup by some brilliant moved by Yaya Toure.

The Ibra goal ended any chance Xerez had on shocking the league leaders and for the remained of the match both sides showed little interest in adding to their side’s goal total.

In the closing minutes the frustration of Xerez reached a boiling point and their tactics turned to dirty antics trying to injury Barcelona players with hard fouls. In the closing minutes Xerez saw their side reduced to nine when both Alustiza and Orellana were shown red cards for their indiscretion.

Following the final whistle Barcelona players were handed to t-shirts that they put on and made their way to the middle of the pitch. The shirts were to commemorate the huge match against Inter saying “we will try our best.” The rally cry was answered by the packed Camp Nou as fans cheered in support and anticipation of Wednesday’s home match.