With their defeat at the hands of Real Madrid in the last El Clasico of the 2023-24 season, everything indicates that FC Barcelona are going to lose their league title to the Merengues.
As was the case against Paris Saint Germain in their last match, the Catalans were in a position to win this match at multiple points in the game. However, Xavi’s men were unable to sustain their advantage, and Madrid went on to take their chances and win the match in injury time at the end of the second half.
Joao Cancelo was once again one of the worst performers for FC Barcelona, and was unable to improve on his mistakes that he made in the game against PSG. His inability to track Lucas Vazquez back led to Madrid’s second goal that removed Barcelona’s lead.
As a result, he has been facing a lot of criticism following the match. As Mundo Deportivo has noted, two of the more notable names to have taken the fullback to task for his poor performance were the former Dutch players, Marco van Basten and Ronald de Boer.
Van Basten, a three-time Ballon d’Or winner, blasted the Portuguese international in a Dutch TV program for not having learned from his past mistakes: “It’s crazy that Cancelo keeps repeating his mistakes at 29 years old.”
Similarly, Ronald de Boer, a former Barcelona midfielder, also had some very harsh words for Cancelo, and highlighted that it was due to mistakes like these that Pep Guardiola did not want him in the squad:
“Now I know why Pep doesn’t like Cancelo. This guy plays his own football and thinks it’s only about what you do with the ball. Damn it, you’re a defender!”
With his two poor performances in two matches, Barcelona will be once again pondering whether it would be worth the while to retain the Manchester City fullback for another season after his loan spell ends this summer.
