Barcelona have gone level with Real Madrid at the top of La Liga following a comfortable 4-0 victory over Athletic Club at the Spotify Camp Nou.
Starting XI
Joan Garcia – 6.5
Had little to do on his return to the side, but it was no coincidence that Barcelona look so much more assured defensively with him between the sticks.
Jules Kounde – 7.5
His best match of the season, and by a country mile. He was excellent defensively, as he locked up Nico Williams once again.
Pau Cubarsi – 7
Assured performance from Cubarsi, who did not have too much to do.
Gerard Martin – 7
Started at centre-back, and looked comfortable there. He moved to left-back in the second half.
Alejandro Balde – 6.5
Looked dangerous on the left flank, but had to be taken off at half time after taking a blow to his neck.
Eric Garcia – 8
Frenkie de Jong’s absence was a concern for Barcelona, but Eric filled in brilliantly. He was so assured in the middle of the park.
Fermin Lopez – 8
Fermin’s fine form continues. He was always making himself available between the lines, and in defence, he was dogged.
Lamine Yamal – 7.5
Not his best match, but he still ends up with a couple of assists.
Dani Olmo – 6.5
Should have scored at least one goal, and also could have had an assist. However, his decision-making left him down.
Ferran Torres – 7.5
Offered himself in attack, and he was rewarded with a goal right on half time. He added his second late on to make it 4-0.
Robert Lewandowski – 7
Scored the first goal of the new Spotify Camp Nou era, and on the whole, he battled well against the Athletic defence.
Substitutes
Ronald Araujo – 6.5
Came on at half time for the injured Balde, and looked comfortable.
Dro Fernandez – 6
Tried hard during his cameo, as he racked him up another Barcelona appearance.
Marc Casado – 6
Helped keep Barcelona in control.
Marc Bernal – 6
Important minutes for Bernal, who continues to work his well back up to full fitness.
Raphinha – 6
A welcome return to action for the Brazil international, who almost curled home a wonderful goal with one of his first touches.
In my candid opinion, the rating for each FC Barcelona player is inaccurate l,and dors not truly or realistically represent their individual performances and team work yesterday.
Thus, why give a rating of 7.5 to Jules Kounde when he was not composed defensively and on the offence. He seemed to lack match sharpness and out of form.
On the contrary, a fair rating for him would be 5.5.
The same rating of 7.5 was given to Lamine Yamal. That’s not fair at all!
Yamal made or created two sensational assists, one for Robert Lewandowski, and the other for Ferran Torres.Both his individual and team play should earn him a rating of 9.
While for Eric Garcia, who was superb offensively and defensively during the memorable encounter against Athletic Bilbao at the AMAZING Spotify Camp Nou, which is still under massive reconstruction/renovation, yesterday afternoon, he surely deserves a rating of 9.5. That he equally gave an assist for Fermin Lopez to score a goal in the match makes the rating given to him to be deservedly fair at 9.5.
Lewy can be fairly given the rating of 8 for his two-goal contribution.
Ferran Torres deserves a rating of 7. Same for Fermin Lopez
while Joan Garcia deserves a rating of 8 for two very brilliant saves he made during the encounter.
His composure, stamina and agility in goal gives confidence to the defendants and the team overall.
The other players can be given the rating ranging from 7 to 5 for their modest and average performances..