A frustrating night for FC Barcelona ends in a 2-1 defeat to Monaco away from home. For many reasons, this will be a forgetful experience as their first outing in the new Champions League format. Unfortunately, beyond just the defeat itself, Barcelona now start off their European campaign with zero points.
Apart from one brilliant moment of magic from Lamine Yamal, Barcelona had a slow start that was ultimately hurt even more by an early red card to Eric Garcia due to a massive miscommunication. Ultimately, Hansi Flick’s Barcelona finally taste defeat this season.
Here are the player ratings for Barcelona.
Player Ratings:
Marc-Andre Ter Stegen: 3.0
Poor decision-making from Ter Stegen led to the first sending off in the game. That pass to Eric Garcia was haphazard, not even well-distributed, and did not even consider that he already had a player pressuring him right there. He did make some good saves later on but the disastrous start to the night for him already had great repercussions. Could have done much better for the second goal as well.
Jules Kounde: 6.0
A solid enough display from Jules Kounde, but one where he constantly looked to be outwitted by the Monaco players. Not his sharpest performance, but definitely not his worst either.
Pau Cubarsi: 5.5
Was outmuscled by the Monaco forwards on a number of occasions, but it was hardly his fault that Eric Garcia’s early red card meant that so much pressure would be invited towards him as a consequence of Garcia’s awkward decision. His passing, however, was not always perfect either.
Inigo Martinez: 6.5
Arguably the most solid Barcelona defender on the night, Inigo Martinez was constantly making sure that Monaco did not get a free shot at goal even though he did get outsmarted by his opponents on a fair few occasions.
Alejandro Balde: 7.0
Had to do a lot of running to compensate for his team being one man down for almost the entire game, and his tireless performance was deserving of some extra recognition given that he was making up for some lacklustre workrate from his teammates.
Marc Casado: 7.5
Arguably the most influential midfielder on the night, Marc Casado put in a great shift. From start to finish, the young Barcelona talent put in a relentless workrate that saw him contribute to defensive work a lot but also chip in offensively whenever he could.
Eric Garcia: 1.0
An atrocious decision from Eric Garcia saw Barcelona go down to ten men early on in the game and it even further complicated an already difficult game.
Raphinha: 5.0
A rather dull night for the Brazilian forward, who seemed to either be too complacent or too fatigued to take advantage of the opportunities that came his way. Not his best outing in a Barcelona shirt by any means.
Pedri: 6.5
Started off the game really slowly and struggled to have an impact early on. However, as the match went on, he definitely improved and became more influential for Barcelona through some key passes and some crucial recoveries.
Lamine Yamal: 8.0
The best youngster in world football steps up once again to do something new that had managed to evade him so far. 17-year-old Lamine Yamal now has a Champions League goal to his name as well, and it could not have come at a more crucial moment for Barcelona in a game where they looked to be lost for ideas. Yet another brilliant performance from the youngster.
Robert Lewandowski: 4.0
Absolutely nowhere to be seen throughout the game, Robert Lewandowski seems to really struggle when he is asked to add in some work for the team. Even when he had the ball the Polish striker did basically nothing worth making any sense out of.
Substitutes:
Gerard Martin: 4.0
Was extremely clumsy and did not ignite any kind of a spark after coming on.
Sergi Dominguez: N/A
Not enough time or influence on the game to warrant a rating.
Ferran Torres: N/A
Not enough time or influence on the game to warrant a rating.
Pablo Torre: N/A
Not enough time or influence on the game to warrant a rating.
Ansu Fati: N/A
Not enough time or influence on the game to warrant a rating.
