Fc Barcelona’s players returned to action against Mallorca, following a tiresome two weeks of international football. Lack of rhythm and an inability to enforce cohesion saw Barça struggle to find daylight on the scoresheet as Lewandowski’s heroics in the 20th minute kept both teams apart.
Ter Stegen: 8.0
Leading the Zamora charts, Ter Stegen continued his fine run of form in goal and was awarded yet another clean sheet. Made 2 excellent saves out of 3 and had an 81% passing accuracy.
Piqué: 7.0
Aerially astute as always and reliable in defensive transition, despite resorting to rough challenges at times. Piqué’s distribution also impressed unsurprisingly.
Christensen: 7.0
The Danish international refuses to put a foot wrong this season and produced another dependable display in defense. Was an important progressor in the first phase, but also won a majority of his duels.
Alejandro Balde: 6.5
Despite playing in unfamiliar territory on the right, Balde was decent, to say the least. He was beaten in transition on a couple of occasions, but recovered well and provided some promising runs from deep.
Jordi Alba: 5.5
Mallorca targeted Alba’s flank the most and found some success on the break. While Alba was comfortable inverting inside and played a couple of nice long balls, he was caught out of position often.
Sergio Busquets: 8.0
Busquets blossomed from the base of midfield and was Barça’s biggest progressive threat with his long balls and dictation of play. Suffered a bit in transition as Barça’s structure seemed out of sorts, but was immensely reliable with the ball.
Pablo Gavi: 8.0
His turns to receive the ball in pressure situations and ability to drive forward caused Mallorca problems. While Gavi played a couple of good long balls and executed several line-breaking passes, he also showed excellent maturity while combining with others as he grows in his ability to control games.
Franck Kessie: 5.0
Kessie was constantly flogging a dead horse by making untimed runs inside the box and not offering himself in the second phase. Looked clunky on the ball and absent in the press. Still, almost bagged an assist for Lewa and can show better qualities alongside a more controlling figure like Pedri.
Dembélé: 5.5
Kept losing custody of the ball in the first half and was unable to form a connection with Balde on the right. With Barça failing to create isolations for him, Dembélé was always outnumbered in take-ons.
Lewandowski: 8.5
Lewandowski scored a fabulous goal from the tightest of angles but was also incredible dropping deep, weaving his way out of pressure, and opening up avenues for teammates to exploit. His impact never faded.
Ansi Fati: 7.5
With every game, Fati appears to be regaining a sense of confidence and sharpness. His positional understanding and interchanges with Lewandowski impressed again as he even bagged an assist. Was heavily active defensively too, tracking back regularly.
Not the prettiest performance, but the big game against Inter up next will draw the most valid conclusions. Forca Barça!