SUBSTITUTES Ousmane Dembele: 6.5ĭembele brought speed to the attack, but did not really do an awful lot. He was also caught offside thrice, and made no shots on target. He messed up a chance early on by overhitting a pass to de Jong, and then twice, again, due to his reluctance to shoot from his left foot. The Dutchman led the line well, making several runs behind the defence, but completely switch his functioning off during key moments. If there is one word to describe Memphis’ performance yesternight, it would be annoying. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images) Memphis Depay: 6
Did manage to create two chances, though. He was unable to finish off a chance in the first half, hitting it over the bar. Gavi was another in today’s list of players who made poor decisions in front of goal. Inarguably the best player on the pitch, there is more to come from Nico Gonzalez this season. He pressed the Benfica defence high, making several recoveries in addition to his game-high four key passes and two big chances created. The 19-year-old wears his heart on his sleeve, and he left everything on the pitch tonight. Nico is quickly becoming a fan-favourite, and it is easy to see why. Moreover, he missed an easy chance that could have taken Barcelona ahead. The left-back was failed to create a single chance and did not complete any of his four attempted crosses. Jordi Alba: 4ĭespite being far from his best, Jordi Alba has been able to come up with five assists across two competitions, but it was simply not his night against Benfica. He also got on the end of a cross late on but overhit his header. The Dutchman made a piercing run through the defence early on, finding Memphis Depay for a scoring chance, but failed to impact the game fully since. The conundrum while judging Frenkie de Jong is that everyone understands what he is capable of, so when he produces anything but perfection, it feels underwhelming. He executed every move with perfection, feinting through the Benfica midblock.īusquets also created three chances on the night, finding attackers with defence-splitting through balls. Sergio Busquets: 8.5ĭonning the captain’s armband for the fifth time in the Champions League this season, Busi produced arguably his best game of the season. A few more performances like this, and Demir could truly force himself into the lineup. He also came oh-so-close to scoring twice – forcing a save once and hitting the woodwork another time. The Austrian did not stop trying to take his marker on through the 90. Yusuf Demir: 8ĭemir lost the ball 17 times on the night, but he showed something missing from the Barcelona wings this season: courage. He continually stepped out of his line to intercept the ball and attempted several brave passes to cut through the Benfica backline. Lenglet was the weakest link in the back-three, but his performance was by no means poor. The Spaniard won 10/11 of his aerial duels and came very close to scoring in stoppage time through a header.
Gerard Pique: 8Ī spectacular outing for Pique, who led the defence brilliantly. Moreover, he acted as an extra man in attack at times and almost scored the winner, which was eventually ruled out for offside. He made five tackles and was not dribbled past a single time. Ronald Araujo: 8.5īarcelona are almost always in for a defensive showing when Araujo takes place in the defence, and today was no different. Lucky the Swiss squandered the opportunity, though.
He did give away possession early on for a straightforward Benfica chance and could be criticised for being beaten too easily by Haris Seferovic in stoppage time.
Three saves on the night for ter Stegen, who was highly lauded as a top-3 goalkeeper in the world by Xavi. Barça Universal runs the rule over the men in garnet and blue. Alas, it was not to be.Ĭertainly more positives than negatives from this fixture, with a less than handful questionable individual performances. Barcelona came close to scoring several times, and if not for a monstrous performance for Nicolas Otamendi, they would have found their way through.