FC Barcelona schools Sounders 4-0

SEATTLE — The largest crowd to ever watch a soccer game in Seattle packed Qwest Field to the rafters Wednesday night, and what a display of the beautiful game they witnessed.

Unfortunately for the mostly pro-Sounder FC crowd of 66,848, the soccer clinic was put on by FC Barcelona, which hung a 4-0 beating on Seattle.

Rather than wear its traditional red and blue vertical striped jersey, Barcelona sported its new-for-2009 road jersey which can best be described as radioactive mango. As unlikely as it seemed before Wednesday night, another team found a way to make rave green look subtle.

And quite frankly, the reigning European champs made the rave green look a bit silly at times as well. While Seattle created chances and was the aggressor for much of its friendly against English power Chelsea last month, the same could not be said on this night. Barcelona was simply dominant throughout the game, creating chances seemingly at will and dominating the possession.

The first half was an onslaught of Lionel Messi runs, precise Xavi passes, and the relentless attacks of Thierry Henry. It was all much more than Seattle could handle.

“This is a tough team to play,” said Sounders FC coach Sigi Schmid. “This is a team that doesn’t give up possession lightly, a team that can make you look silly at times.”

Messi, believed by many to be the best player in the world, scored a pair of first-half goals, and both were nothing short of world-class finishes.

The 22-year-old Argentinean striker was somehow unmarked on top of the box in the 21st minute, and when Xavi found the open Messi with a pass, he curled a left-footed shot past Kasey Keller from 23 yards out to make it 1-0.

Twenty minutes later, Xavi floated a perfect pass into the box for Messi, who shook his defender with a deft move before starting his run. In one seamless motion, Messi controlled the ball with his chest and snuck a low shot past Keller from point-blank range.

Seattle players seemed more impressed by what they saw than disappointed in the result.

“You have probably the best attacking player in the world of the past six, seven years in Henry, and the future best attacking player in the world on the other side in Messi,” said Keller. “And not to mention the rest of the cast isn’t too bad either. The movement off the ball, the first touch, it was just an absolute lesson and hopefully a pleasure for the fans who got to see how the best team in the world plays football.”

Keller didn’t seemed surprised by the relentless attack he faced. He has been on the wrong end of games against Barca before, including one thrashing in Barcelona.

“Hey, I got my (butt) kicked at the Camp Nou one time 5-1, so I’ve seen it a couple different times before,” he said. “I knew what was going to happen. If they came with the attitude that they did you knew we were going to get peppered. They’re the best team in the world.”

Jeffren Suarez made it 3-0 in the 74th minute with goal that was nearly a copy of Messi’s second goal and Pedro Rodriguez added a fourth goal in the 90th.

Seattle did have a few chances, most of which came in the first half. After Barcelona strung together 16 consecutive passes to start the game, Seattle finally got a touch on the ball, and a few minutes later created a descent scoring chance, but Nate Jaqua’s shot didn’t have much pace and was an easy save for Barca keeper Jose Manuel Pinto.

Just before Messi’s first goal, Pinto misplayed a clearance right to the feet of Freddie Ljungberg, but his shot missed just left. Steve Zakuani also created several chances down the left wing, but none resulted in goals.

Keller, meanwhile, made a number of spectacular saves in the first half that kept the score from really getting out of hand. The post also kept another Messi shot from going in.

Barcelona featured most of its starters in the first half minus defender Rafael Marquez, midfielder Andres Iniesta and goalkeeper Victor Valdes, all of whom were present but taking a night off for injuries, or in Iniesta’s case, an illness.

Seattle used its regular starters in the first half as well, and that group included Leonardo Gonzalez, which could be a sign that the recently signed player has already taken over the starting job at left back. Both teams emptied their benches to start the second half.

Gonzalez had a rather rude welcome to his new team, getting one of the most-feared assignments in the world of soccer: marking Messi.

Despite the lopsided loss, Seattle fans did impress Barcelona players, who are used to playing in front of friendly crowds when they tour the U.S.

“It was amazing,” Henry said. “It really reminded me of the crowds in Europe. They were really cheering for the Sounders and rightly so, we are the away team. It was a great atmosphere, they made it really difficult for us in the first half … That’s a first for me. Usually the crowd is cheering us on, happy to see us and they wear the Barcelona jersey. The fans were happy to see us, but also they wanted their team to win and they came to support their team. That’s what you do when you support your team, so it was kind of nice to see that to be honest.”

Herald Writer John Boyle: jboyle@heraldnet.com.