Ice-cool Gudjohnsen saves Barca´s blushes

Eidur Gudjohnsen is a bit part player at Barcelona but the Icelandic international showed his worth with an 80th minute winner as Barca defeated Real Betis 3-2 to notch their first home win this season.

Samuel Eto’o scored a first half brace to put Barca two goals up but Betis launched a sterling second half comeback to draw the scores level only for substitute Gudjohnsen to break their hearts with a late winner.

It was in stark contrast to the 6-1 crushing of Sporting Gijon at the weekend but the nervy victory helps push Barcelona up to second in the table although several teams have yet to play.

Villarreal, who finished above Barca last season, sit proudly at the top of the standings after a 2-0 victory over Racing Santander on Wednesday.

The damage was done in four minutes with Joan Capdevila, who gets his fair share of goals for a full back, opening the scoring and Jose Llorente adding another shortly after.

Manuel Pellegrini’s Villarreal outfit are yet to lose in Europe or the league where they have accumulated 10 points from a possible 12.

Barcelona have seven points to their name and manager Pep Guardiola will be concerned by his team’s second half showing against Betis.

Thierry Henry started on the substitutes bench with the three-pronged attack of Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Eto’o retaining their places after the Sporting rout.

Eto’o was poised to leave the club in the summer but he showed his striking prowess with a first half brace.

The Cameroon forward used nimble footwork on 17 minutes to create an opening and his fierce shot thumped in off the underside of the crossbar.

Six minutes later Messi ghosted past his man and cut the ball back with his weaker right foot to give Eto’o an easy tap-in.

But Betis stormed back to level after a free-kick from Fabian Monzon and a Jose Mari chip, paralleling last season when Frank Rijkaard’s Barca were two nil up against Betis at half-time before losing 3-2.

This time Barca found the killer punch with former Chelsea man Gudjohnsen scoring in the final ten minutes.

Such excitement was not to be found at the Osasuna-Deportivo La Coruna match on Wednesday which finished 0-0.

A mouthwatering derby duel takes place later on Wednesday when Getafe host Atletico Madrid.

Atletico lie seventh but come up against an unbeaten Getafe team with aspirations to upset their more illustrious city neighbours.

Real Madrid host Gijon at the Santiago Bernabeu later on Wednesday and Schuster predicted a tough battle against a team reeling from their 6-1 thrashing by Barcelona.

“They definitely won’t make it easy on us,” said Schuster. “A team that just conceded six goals won’t want to see it happen again.”

Schuster is set to rest several first teamers due to the congested fixture-list relying on fringe players to come up with the goods.

Joint leaders Espanyol travel to Sevilla in Tuesday’s other late game with Sevilla manager Manolo Jimenez calling on his team to make their Sanchez Pizjuan stadium a fortress this season.