Barcelona faced off against Cadiz at the Estadio Ramón de Carranza earlier tonight hoping to secure a victory on their travels. The Catalans made a sloppy start to the contest as they conceded the opening goal in the eight-minute when Alvaro Gimenez found the back of the net. Barca were lacklustre in the first half and went into the half-time one goal down on the scoreline.
Ronald Koeman’s men got a fortunate equaliser from an unlikely source in the 57th minute when Pedro Alcala scored an own goal. However, Alvaro Negredo helped his team regain their lead just six minutes later with his left-footed strike from close range. The contest ended with the Catalan giants suffering a disappointing 2-1 loss on the road.
Let’s take a look at how each Barcelona player performed during the match against Cadiz.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 5/10
The German keeper ended up conceding two cheap goals during the 90 minutes, which won’t please him.
RB: Sergiño Dest – 6/10
Dest didn’t have too much work to do defensively. He was bright and energetic going forward.
CB: Óscar Mingueza -4/10
The Barca youngster was at fault in the lead-up to Cadiz’s first goal. He struggled to boss the game in the first 45 minutes and was substituted at half-time.
CB: Clement Lenglet – 4/10
The French defender failed to give a good account of himself at the heart of the defence and won’t be happy after failing to keep a clean sheet in both halves. He also made a poor error in the lead-up to Negredo’s goal in the second half.
LB: Jordi Alba – 6/10
The Spanish full-back created a couple of chances in the final third. Still, it was a far from convincing performance from him tonight.
CM: Frenkie de Jong – 6/10
De Jong tried his best to stop some of the Cadiz counter-attacks but failed to make an impact with his ball-distribution going forward.
CM: Sergio Busquets – 6/10
The Spanish midfield ace worked hard to help his teammates out in defence and also fashioned a couple of decent opportunities in the opposition half.
LW: Philippe Coutinho – 6/10
The Brazilian playmaker had a few moments of promise in the first half but didn’t do enough and was replaced at half-time.
CAM: Antoine Griezmann – 5/10
The Frenchman wasted some inviting chances to score and had a frustrating game in the Cadiz half.
RW: Lionel Messi – 7.5/10
The Argentine wing wizard was once again Koeman’s best hope for a goal. He was a constant menace for the Cadiz defenders and did everything but find the back of the net.
ST: Martin Braithwaite – 5/10
He didn’t get too many chances to register his name on the scoresheet. It was overall a toothless display from him up top.
Substitutes:
LW: Ousmane Dembele – 6/10
The Frenchman’s pace caused some problems for the opposition in the second half, but it wasn’t enough in the end.
CAM: Pedri – 6/10
He had a couple of shots but never looked like scoring.
CM: Miralem Pjanic – 5/10
Pjanic was not afraid to have a few shots at goal but didn’t do enough to force a late equaliser.
RW: Trincao – 5/10
He made one good chance but was mostly quiet after coming off the bench.
