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9 months ago
57 ARTICLE AD
Barcelona had the chance to really open up La Liga after Real Madrid’s draw and Girona’s loss against Valencia and Mallorca, respectively, as they took on Athletic Club at the San Mames tonight.
Ernesto Valverde’s men were not going to go down without a fight, though, and eventually proved to be more than a handful for Barcelona as the game ended 0-0.
Neither team really bulged defensively, both lacking the final pass and any sort of control in midfield.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen: 5
Did not have to do much at all, with his defence putting in a brilliant shift to cover everything that was thrown at them by Inaki Williams and co.
Jules Kounde: 7.5
Did very well to fend off anything Athletic threw at him, including the threat of Inaki Williams a number of times in the second half. Will be crucial against Napoli.
Pau Cubarsi: 7
Tasked with too much defensively as Athletic threw multiple bodies forward and into the box. Did well for the most part minus a couple moments of poor positioning.
Ronald Araujo: 8
Laid the offside trap perfectly, which caught out a number of Athletic attacks for Barcelona. Was also in the right place at the right time in the box often, but his distribution did worsen playing on the left side again.
Joao Cancelo: 7
Did well to push forward as the false winger and attempted a bunch of things, including a shot from the halfway line, that was caught. Unfortunately as toothless with his final ball as others.
Ilkay Gundogan: 6
Far from Gundogan’s best performance as he could not control the tempo of the game alone. Did not have that magic touch today as a lot of his final balls were intercepted with ease. Made a fair few silly mistakes, too.
Andreas Christensen: 6
Kept it tidy, clean, and simple. Much like his previous performances, Christensen did nothing extravagant, but made no mistakes, either.
Frenkie de Jong: 6.5
Was arguably the best player on the pitch for the 25 odd minutes he did play, but had to be taken off due to an ankle injury.
Raphinha: 4
A far cry from his performance vs Getafe, Raphinha looked out of ideas, and could barely find a way through the Athletic Club defence, who had the Brazilian locked up.
Robert Lewandowski: 4
Just not involved enough to write home about as Athletic’s defensive stood strong for 90 minutes. Not much of his fault, either, to be fair.
Pedri: 6
Was having a decent game after moving into midfield, but also picked up what looked like a serious injury, and had to be taken off, with Lamine Yamal replacing him.
SUBSTITUTES:
Fermin Lopez: 6.5
Brought energy into the team, and the midfield, but was not composed enough a lot of times when Barcelona needed him to be, especially in the final third.
Lamine Yamal: 6
Could not get the better of Imanol on the wing, and walked away with barely any real impact.
