Barcelona crying out for a new No. 9 after Benfica stalemate

Following the disappointing manner in which Barcelona began their UEFA Champions League campaign, with consecutive defeats to Bayern Munich and SL Benfica, qualification to the next round looked out of the question.

However, back-to-back wins against Dynamo Kyiv in the third and fourth matchdays put the Blaugrana in contention to progress to the next round. Heading into Tuesday night’s clash against Benfica, Barca needed all three points to make it through to the Last-16 stage and following the weekend win over Espanyol, the mood was certainly optimistic.

But, Xavi’s side, on the 41-year-old’s Champions League managerial debut, stumbled at Camp Nou, playing out a goalless draw against the Portuguese giants, which leaves them with all to do in the final group game against Bayern Munich.

Barcelona, for the most part on Tuesday night, were the better side. However, as has been the case in quite a few games this term, lacked the cutting edge and killer instinct in front of goal. There were times when the final ball was lacking and when the Catalans did get that part right, they lacked a clinical finisher to put those chances away, which could now result in them ending up in the Europa League.

The game against Benfica once again shed light on the fact that the Blaugrana desperately need to add another centre-forward in the January transfer window. As things stand, the Catalans have just Memphis Depay as the option in the No. 9 role, although it must be noted that he is not a natural in the position.

Luuk de Jong is not seen as a part of the plans by Xavi, while Sergio Aguero’s unfortunate situation has come as an unexpected blow as well. Speaking after the game, the manager touched upon how his team needed to find that clinical edge in front of goal.

“When you have a chance in the area, you don’t have to think. I’m not just talking about Memphis. You have to shoot, you have to try, be fast. What we must do is regain the confidence of the players who can score goals. We will see what we can do on the market in January,” Xavi said.

So, despite director Mateu Alemany claiming that the club were in no position to register new players in January, efforts must be made to bring in a proper No. 9 as Barcelona cannot afford to go through the rest of the season with this issue hampering them.