Joy of playing and blind understanding: Lionel Messi thanks template provider Pedri.
FC Barcelona
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In the 3-2 win at Atheltic Bilbao, the outstanding Lionel Messi and Pedri stood out, although they were supported by a strong Ousmane Dembélé. While Frenkie de Jong again showed important runs in depth, Clement Lenglet did not look good once again. The player review and grades.
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Marc-André ter Stegen
Marc-André ter Stegen had to let the first shot on his goal pass, although the goalkeeper was still on the ball and would probably have held it on a good day – taking your foot instead of your hand would probably be the better option given the short reaction time been. In the further course of the game, the German was hardly challenged as a goalkeeper, but was characterized by his usual safe opening. In the beautiful Schlenzer Muniains to 2: 3 completely powerless. Barçawelt points: 6
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Sergiño Dest
The right-back acted mostly focused and sovereign without being particularly conspicuous on the offensive. Dest had Barça’s first chance of the game, which was defused by Unai Simon, but otherwise could not set accents in the attacking third. Instead, the Dutchman concentrated on his defensive tasks and was concerned about safety, which he managed quite well overall. Overall, he is currently missing the liveliness and joy of playing from the beginning. After 75 minutes he was replaced by Óscar Mingueza. Barçawelt points: 6
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Ronald araujo
Before conceding an early goal, Araujo tried to help against Iñaki Williams, but did not get into the duel – here one would have liked more determination in the “Help-Defense”. Otherwise, the Uruguayan was extremely confident and serene, and left nothing to be desired in the direct duel. Clarified towards the end in dire need against Jon Morcillo, who was ready to shoot in front of the goal, Araujo also acted concentrated in the build-up game and brought a strong 94 percent of his passes to the man. Barçawelt points: 7
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Clement Lenglet
Especially in the early stages, Clément Lenglet did not look good and in the duel against Williams before the 0: 1 he behaved too stiffly, almost like an amateur kicker. He had problems every now and then with his fast opponent, but from then on there were no consequences. In the course of the game, the French stabilized a little, but got his fifth yellow card after a completely unnecessary action in which he prevented a quick throw-in by the hosts. This means that he is banned in Granada. Barçawelt points: 4
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Jordi Alba
Jordi Alba delivered a similar performance as his counterpart Dest on the right side: defensively mostly solid, offensively quite inconspicuous. In the closing stages he served Griezmann freely in front of the goal, but his pass got easily into the back of his striker, so that he could not use it. Here he has to be more focused and present better. Overall, however, Alba was very integrated into the Catalans’ game, with his 110 ball actions the left-back again recorded most of his team. Barçawelt points: 6
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Sergio Busquets
Before the 0-1, Busquets moved too vigorously from the defensive line, but could not conquer the ball and let Williams slip away in his back. Even if Lenglet did not show good duel behavior afterwards, Busquets was largely to blame for this goal – here the vote in the defense chain was not at all correct, because Busquets formed a three-man chain in the scene with Lenglet and Araujo, the two regular central defenders stood very broad. Over the entire season, there were always minor lack of concentration in Busquets’ game, which is almost something that we are now used to. He also lost track of Raul Garcia behind him on a cross on the far post shortly after the break, but his opponent was unable to net. In counter-pressing and as a ball distributor, Busquets was an important factor, but he has to be more concentrated. Barçawelt points: 5
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Frenkie de Jong
Frenkie de Jong again showed great runs in depth, after one such a Messi cross with an overview to Pedri, who headed in to equalize. Overall, the Dutchman acted very confidently at headquarters and set the pace in Barça’s midfield. Almost got his second assist after a good ball win and a pass to Messi, but La Pulga was just offside when passed. He seems to be slowly growing into the role of midfield boss. Barçawelt points: 8
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Pedri
And once again Pedri has proven to be Lionel Messi’s new favorite playing partner. The 18-year-old later topped his concentrated header to make it 1: 1 with a sensational submission to Messi, who was running behind and who, while cheering, showed who he owed this goal to. Pedri whirled with Messi in the half-space between midfield and attack, was on the road a lot and constantly drove the opponent to despair. In addition, the youngster recorded a good pass rate of 90 percent, thus underlining his incredible maturity at such a young age. Our Man of the Match, if it weren’t for a certain Argentine … Barçawelt points: 9
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Lionel Messi
This Argentine made perhaps his best appearance of the season against Bilbao. Played a good ball on the starting de Jong before equalizing, completed a dream combination with Pedri himself to make it 2-1, and put the lid on with an ice-cold finish, his second goal. In addition, Messi hit the post three more times, so with a little more luck he could have scored more often. La Pulga seemed much more determined and motivated than before and was the linchpin in Barça’s offensive, only his catastrophic bad pass in his own half, which led to 2: 3, cost Messi the top grade. Barçawelt-Punkte: 9, Man of the Match
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Antoine Griezmann
Compared to his offensive colleagues, Antoine Griezmann fell a bit, but that by no means means a bad performance for the French. As usual, Griezmann was on the road a lot, helping out on the defensive in his well-known way, but was also able to book a clever assist for Messi’s second goal. Even if he barely finished himself, he was well integrated into the attacking game and made his contribution to this away win, which was almost crowned with a goal of his own, but Alba’s template was too imprecise. Barçawelt points: 7
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Ousmane Dembele
Ousmane Dembélé was an asset in the Blaugrana’s attack, especially in the first round. In his actions, the French appeared to be much more deliberate and determined than in some other appearances, and also showed a good eye for the teammate. So he initiated Dest’s great chance with a through pass to Messi (7th). Then tried twice from the sixteen limit, both times Unai Simon parried. In the end there is no goal or assist on his working paper, but with such a performance it is difficult to imagine the first team without him – Martin Braithwaite came on for Dembélé a quarter of an hour before the end. Barçawelt points: 8
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Óscar Mingueza
Mingueza came on for Dest after 75 minutes and helped bring the result over time. He couldn’t stand out either positively or negatively. Barçawelt points: no rating
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Martin Braithwaite
Just like Mingueza, Braithwaite had no more influence on the game when he came on for Ousmane Dembélé at the same time. Barçawelt points: no rating
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Trainer Ronald Koeman
With the choice of his four offensive players, Ronald Koeman was spot on in the difficult away game in Bilbao. Especially Messi, Pedri and Dembélé harmonized wonderfully and provided several moments of surprise and fluid combination play, the three were well complemented by Antoine Griezmann. The coach can hardly be held responsible for the individual mistakes before the goals conceded, otherwise his match plan seemed to work completely and to be implemented well by his men. Above all, the two nominal eights Pedri and de Jong ensured dominance in midfield, but at the same time they never neglected the way to the top. An overall successful performance by Barça. Barçawelt points: 9
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Explanation of scoring
10 points: World class
9 points: very good performance
8 points: good performance
7 points: appealing performance
6 points: average performance
5 points: below average performance
4 points: poor performance
3 points: bad performance
2 points: insufficient performance
1 point: Total failure
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Jan-Hendrik Busch
editor
Forum: Buschi0512
Twitter: Buschi0512
Contact: jan-hendrik.b[at]barcawelt.de
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