Barcelona managed to hold onto a draw against an extremely poised Borussia Dortmund side at the Signal Iduna Park in Germany courtesy of a spectacular performance by Marc Andre Ter Stegen.
The Germain goalie seemed to be in fine form on his return to Germany and even denied Marco Reus from the penalty spot. Barcelona had a very poor evening, and they must be thanking their lucky stars for the point they could salvage from their trip to Germany. Here are two positives and one negative which Barcelona came home with from their opening UEFA Champions League fixture against Borussia Dortmund.
Lionel Messi’s Return
Lionel Messi made his return from injury in Barcelona’s draw against BVB. The Argentine appeared as a second-half substitute when he came on to replace the 16-year-old wiz-kid, Ansu Fati.
Despite not having a proper pre-season and a delayed start to the 2019/20 season, Messi looked in good shape for the thirty-odd minutes he stayed on the field of play. Messi was unable to have any impact on the proceedings on the night, but one and all at Barcelona would be delighted with his return to full fitness.
Barcelona have had a horrible start to their La Liga season with just two wins out of four fixtures. Lionel Messi’s return would undoubtedly help the overall morale of the squad, keeping in mind the tough run of games lined-up for Barcelona until the end of October.
First Clean-Sheet
Barcelona enjoyed their first clean sheet of the campaign against Borussia Dortmund last night. A significant credit of the clean sheet goes to the outstanding performance put in by Ter Stegen. The goalie proved a massive point on his return to Germany. Germany head coach, Joachim Low must be put in a spot of serious bother following Ter Stegen’s performance last night.
Barcelona were defensively poor against Borussia Dortmund, and an injury to Jordi Alba only made things spiral from bad to worse. Pique and Lenglet seemed to be having a tough night against Reus and Alcacer. The defensive duo of Barcelona seemed a bit slow to the likes of Reus and Alcacer. Despite their troubles, Barcelona have managed to become the first club this season against which Paco has failed to score.
Travel Sickness
Barcelona’s travel sickness in the UEFA Champions League has continued. It was the first time since 2009-10 season that Barcelona failed to find the back of the net in their opening group of the game. Another interesting fact to ponder upon is Barcelona’s four wins in a possible 14 fixtures away from home in Europe. Barcelona will have to certainly address this weak link if they seek to win the Champions League this time around.
Despite making his return from injury against Valencia on Saturday in formidable fashion with two goals, Suarez once again failed to score for Barcelona away from home in Europe.
