Barcelona showed that although they were a little more competitive against Real Mallorca, they were still seriously lacking in defence, following on from their 3-2 win over Celta Vigo. In addition, Ronald Araujo and Inigo Martinez both looked a little rusty in their debut partnership.
Araujo has been out injured for a month, but Martinez appeared for the first time in a Barcelona shirt at the start of September, coming on against Osasuna. Against Mallorca, he started for the first time, and neither he nor Araujo came out of it looking particularly good.
Sport say that Martinez, withdrawn in the 75th minute for Jules Kounde, was deeply frustrated with his first start. Despite attempts from his teammates, Martinez was not for cheering after the match, as he cut a solemn figure on the island – he was well aware he had not hit his usual standards.
Given it was just his first start, Xavi Hernandez is likely to be much more concerned with the collective mistakes rather than the inidividual performance of Martinez. However he made need a run of games to get back to the level that made him one of the best in Spain, something that looks tricky, given the settled partnership of Jules Kounde and Andreas Christensen, with Araujo also ahead of him in the pecking order.
