Bayern Munich 3-0 Barcelona: Player Ratings

Yesterday in Bavaria, Xavi’s Barcelona fell to a 0-3 defeat against Julian Nagelsmann’s Bayern Munich. If one were asked about the result in isolation, a three-goal victory for the Germans wouldn’t be the less probable possibility.

But the fact that this loss means a Europa League appearance for Barcelona is a shocking, rather, uncompelling part of the situation. Barcelona’s achievements are known to the footballing world.

For a club of that stature and strength to fall so far below what should be the norm for it is hard to watch. Most of the Barcelona players apparently chose to personify the said fall from grace by underperforming yesterday as we shall observe through these player ratings.

Marc-Andre Ter Stegen: 2.5

Starting off your game with your first pass going astray to the best striker in the world isn’t likely to fill one with plenty of confidence. After this mistake forced Sergio Busquets to foul Lewandowski and receive a yellow card, Ter Stegen’s performance didn’t particularly go uphill from there. Standard ball distribution aside, there wasn’t much that the German did correctly.

Apart from Musiala’s goal, there was certainly much more he could have done to stop the ball going in the other two times. The defense was majorly responsible for Muller’s goal but it was in the part of the box that Ter Stegen should be completely in command of especially in the air and Sane’s goal had some initial swerve on it but the unobscured trajectory means a better effort to save it should have been shown at the very least.

Ronald Araujo: 3.25

Usually Barcelona’s best defender, on this occasion Araujo was unable to catch up to Davies’ lightning pace. He lunged into tackles foolishly a few times. One positive would be his initial involvement which was impressive in the attacking phases as well.

Araujo covered a lot of ground as well, but the clarity of the amount he struggled against Davies’ pace and failed to adjust to it throughout the ninety was disheartening and it contributed to the scoreline significantly.

Gerard Pique: 4

At 34 years of age, Gerard Pique personifies Barcelona in many facets. The fierce loyalty to the badge, the attitude of always trying to be the best, never being satisfied with anything less, presenting a facade of defensive solidity only to fall apart against stronger sides. Some of these similarities were more apparent than others.

Granted, he wasn’t solely responsible for any of the goals, but that is not the scale that Pique should be judged by. The scale that he should be judged by is that of an 8-time La Liga winner and a 3-time Champions League winner. Despite the fact that he is ageing and is nearing the end of his career, there is much more that he can offer.

Clement Lenglet: 3.5

Similar to Gerard Pique, and unlike Ronald Araujo, there weren’t many 1v1 situations for Lenglet to prove himself in. The team needed him when the defense had runners penetrating it and when Muller scored his goal, but Lenglet staying in character with his performances over the last year and a half or more, he wasn’t there to be relied upon.

Though Mingueza should have been trying to get the aerial ball as well, Lenglet has no excuse for letting Muller get that header unchallenged.

Sergino Dest: 4.5

Sergino Dest had a demanding role to play as a wing-back. The high defensive and attacking work rate was almost there, but not the quality. He often let players run past him too easily, especially Alphonso Davies.

Dest’s performance for the first half an hour was actually quite promising. He combined well, was in the right place most of the time, and tried quick combinational plays in and around the opposition’s box. After the first goal, he was barely present in the match constructively.

Gavi: 5

Against one of Europe’s best teams in his debut season, 17-year-old Gavi did well if you consider the circumstances. Just a year or so ago, he was playing in the UEFA Youth League. But regardless, in this match he offered little attacking threat despite making runs often. His efforts to regain possession were commendable to but rarely proved succesful.

Sergio Busquets: 5.5

Busquet’s first-time passes would often get Barcelona out of an intense press and he was always in the right place at the right time. The problem was, so was Thomas Muller who would man-mark Busquets, forcing Ter Stegen to try longer passes often.

The Barcelona pivot looked as defensively weak as he looked comfortable in possession. Leroy Sane on more than one occasion, including just before his goal, comfortably dribbled past him.

Frenkie De Jong: 7

Barcelona’s best player by a margin, De Jong did the things that Busquets did well and added a pinch of attacking threat and a whole lot of positional dynamism. He covered a lot of ground as he was all over the green, and made the right passing decisions, and topped them off with good execution.

The only thing lacking, noticeably, was the attacking threat. However, on a few occasions, he would be seen progressing the ball only to find only Memphis Depay ahead of him. Frenkie was one of the very few who put in a fearless performance.

Jordi Alba: 6

Barcelona’s reliance on Jordi Alba to take command of the left-wing has recently been very noticeable especially with the absence of Ansu Fati. Before being subbed off with an injury in the first half itself, he was key to the attack and defense down the left. Alba got into key areas in the final third and even contributed to half of Barcelona’s unimpressive tally of shots on target (2).

Memphis Depay : 4.5

Depay did try to innovate in the attacking phase and his passes into the channels for either Dembele or one of the other runners helped the team progress. Despite this, he lost possession too often, was sluggish when making decisions, and would regularly back himself into an opposition player to receive the ball only to lsoe it due to only a partially forced error.

Ousmane Dembele: 4.5

Throughout the match, Dembele faired well in the physical aspects such as pace, accelaration, shooting power. However, the finer facets such as knowing when to release the ball, combining fast, balancing power, and accuracy seemed to be lost on him. Though he is someone who has the ability to make a difference, his performance yesterday left a lot to be desired.

Oscar Mingueza: 4

Mingueza had to come on for Jordi Alba and play out of position against Bayern Munich. Granted, he immediately made a blunder leading to Muller’s headed goal. Even after that, he was unable to cope with Bayern’s attacking threat down the wing.

In fact, apart from the physically demanding aspects, Mingueza failed to maintain the defensive line and was lucky that Bayern didn’t exploit the same even more.

Nico Gonzalez: 5.5

Yet another of Barcelona’s young midfielders, Nico linked up well with his teamamtes, especially Gavi, since coming on. There were moments when he held the ball for too long or seemed impatient in playing the ball forward.

Nico seemed hungry for the ball and would regularly contest for the ball and ask for it even under pressure. However, as a whole his performance was neither one that warrants a lot of criticism not nor one that warrants significant praise.

Riqui Puig 5

Coming on in the last 15 minutes, Puig’s performance was unremarkable as a whole. There was little time to make an impact coming into the match with the team behind by a few goals.

Philippe Coutinho 5

Similar to Puig, Coutinho had little time to make an impact. Recently, he has been performing better than in the past for Barcelona, but was unable to make a difference in the fifteen minutes or so that he had.

Yusuf Demir N/A

Didn’t play enough to warrant a rating.