FC Barcelona emerged as the dominant victors from their recent UEFA Champions League clash against Royal Antwerp. Finishing the game with a scoreline of 5-0 to match their strong performance, Barcelona had many positives of their own to look at.
Elite performances from several of the Barcelona players enabled the Catalan giants to score five goals against an opponent for the second game in a row. Undoubtedly a great night for La Blaugrana, there was however one small detail that has left the Barca management a bit uncertain.
Within the ranks of their Belgian opponents, plays a certain 18-year-old midfielder that Barcelona have been targeting since quite some time now. According to Spanish outlet SPORT, however, it seems a bit unfortunate that his performance against Barca did not particularly impress.
While he was not a bad player on the field by any means, it was rather difficult for him to stand out in light of how dominant Barcelona were and how suffocated Antwerp seemed to be most of the time.
With several reports and analytic news regarding the player scouting him as a top future talent, Barcelona may have been expecting something more.
Against La Blaugrana, he managed 44 touches, made 31 successful passes, won four duels, completed two long balls, and made two interceptions and clearances each. His overall contribution to Antwerp was not all too bad but it was still not a performance that particularly stood out.
For now, however, Barcelona will not make any final decisions on the player as he remains quite liked by several European giants. Xavi also highlighted the player’s ability to switch around within the midfield and provide versatile cover wherever needed.
The Barcelona manager even commended him for developing well under his current coach, Van Bommel, and that he performed rather well despite the difficult situation of his team:
“Well, he hasn’t been very involved in the game. We dominated the match a lot, but I think Van Bommel is doing a great job with him. He hasn’t been comfortable since the 20th minute, that’s clear, but he’s a very good player.”
The player has also previously received heavy praise from Marc Overmars, former Barcelona player and current Director of football at Royal Antwerp, who likened the young Belgian talent to the likes of Xavi Hernandez himself and Andres Iniesta:
“I have no doubt that he has a fantastic level. The first time I saw him, he reminded me of Xavi and Iniesta, a player with a similar profile.”
