Barcelona 3 - Gimnastic Tarragona 0

Barcelona: Víctor Valdés; Oleguer, Thuram (Márquez 82'), Puyol, Zambrotta; Xavi, Edmilson, Deco (Iniesta 58'); Giuly, Saviola (Gudjohnsen 65'), Ronaldinho. 4-3-3.
Nàstic: Bizzarri; Calvo, César Navas, Matellán, Mingo; Morales, Generelo (Carlos Merino 58'), Buades; Cuéllar, Juan Díaz (Campano 65'); Portillo (Pinilla 65'). 4-3-2-1.

Team changes: Barça: Oleguer, Thuram, Zambrotta, Deco, Saviola for Belletti, Márquez, Van Bronckhorst, Iniesta, Gudjohnsen / Nàstic: Calvo, César Navas, Generelo, Cuéllar, Portillo for Ruz, Llera, Campano, Ismael Irurzún, Rubén Castro.

Goals:
1-0. 17. Saviola. Controlled pass from Oleguer and scored with shot on turn.
2-0. 68. Giuly. Shot from right of goal which César Navas turned into own net.
3-0. 81. Iniesta. Passed ball in to net after Bizzarri cleared at feet of Ronaldinho.

A three way tie between Barcelona, Sevilla and Real Madrid at the top of the table at the midpoint of the season, although a 3-0 victory against bottom club Gimnàstic means that Barcelona are all but assured of the honorary title of winter champions on goal average (they still have to visit Betis in a postponed match midweek, but need to lose by six clear goals to hand over the title to Sevilla).

The two neighbours last met over 50 years ago, before the Nou Camp was even built, with Barça winning 10-1. And they seemed to be on the way to a comfortable win when Saviola put them ahead on the quarter hour mark, taking advantage of a rare start to pick up a mis-hit shot from Oleguer near to goal before poking the ball past Bizzarri.

But after that the visitors held their own, and there were even some whistles against Ronaldinho as he lost the ball on a couple of occasions. Saviola did head against the bar, and the referee turned down a penalty appeal by Giuly before half time, and Oleguer and Giuly both wasted chances after the restart. But the side weren't clicking, and when Rijkaard replaced Saviola with Gudjohnsen there were more boos from the crowd.

A couple of minutes later though the new man had a hand in Barça's second goal, playing Ronaldinho's cross back across the six yard box. Matellán hit his own crossbar trying to clear, but the ball fell to Giuly whose shot was deflected in to the net by debutant César Navas. And later in the half Iniesta made it three, passing the ball back into the net after Bizzarri could only push the ball away from Ronaldinho's feet. Gudjohnsen could have scored a fourth when he rolled a shot wide in the last minute, but Barça had done enough and Nàstic's brave fight once again came to nothing.