Barcelona slumped to their first opening day defeat after a decade following a narrow 1-0 loss to Athletic Bilbao. The defeat will serve as a massive encouragement for Real Madrid, who kickstart their 2019/20 La Liga campaign today.
Hosts Barcelona always found it difficult to break open a strong and resilient Athletic Bilbao defence that maintained a compact shape throughout the entirety of the game. But, more importantly, Bilbao looked extremely dangerous on the break and went quite close to scoring on a few occasions as well.
The Catalans enjoyed the lion’s share of possession after the restart. But, they failed to make out anything substantial, and the game was heading to a stalemate. But that was before substitute Aritz Aduriz pulled out a screamer from the bag to score the only goal of the evening.
Here is how Ernesto Valverde’s men fared in Barcelona’s opening day defeat to the Basque outfit.
Marc Andre ter Stegen 8.5/10
He was forced to make a lot of good saves, especially in the first half. In fact, Bilbao amassed five shots on target, which is considerably more than Barcelona’s two. The German-made four saves and his performance in between the sticks was truly impressive.
Nelson Semedo 5/10
Went forward on numerous occasions, notably creating a passing triangle with Sergi Roberto and Ousmane Dembele on the far side. However, he wasn’t effective with his attacking forays.
Gerard Pique 6/10
Did a decent job of keeping out long balls while his positioning was also great. Tried to inject more passion and commitments into the fans and his teammates when Barca were failing to break the deadlock.
Clement Lenglet 6/10
Strong as ever, Lenglet was excellent keeping out the loose balls. He took care of the long balls, notably winning three aerial duels. Can’t be blamed for his attacking shortcomings.
Jordi Alba 6.5/10
Looked lively as usual But, there are this verve and tenacity that is currently missing from the Spaniard at the moment. He had a minimal impact going forward, though he did combine well at times with his teammates in the final third.
Sergi Roberto 6/10
Almost camped himself on the opposition half in an attempt to find the opener. But, much like most of his teammates, the La Masia academy graduate struggled to make any difference.
Frenkie de Jong 6.5/10
Did well to circulate ball around the pitch, meaning he stuck to his job. But at the same time, the Dutchman needs to make himself more useful, especially when his team is struggling to breach the opposing defence.
Carles Alena 6.5/10
Showcased his exquisite passing skills by threading an outstanding through ball to free up Dembele on the far side.
Ousmane Dembele 6/10
Tried to probe the opposing defenders with his crazy skills and trickery on the far side. But, the Frenchman couldn’t create a spark in the attack. He was, however, quite nice in the build-up game, having completed 56 passes.
Luis Suarez 6/10
Looked extremely tired and struggled to provide any athleticism. He appeared to be suffering from the same old muscle problem, which led to his substitution even before the end of the first half.
Antoine Griezmann 6/10
After initially starting on the left, Griezmann ultimately shifted into a central role following the substitution of Suarez. But the Frenchman failed to provide any spark in the attack in either of those two positions. Hopefully, he will have better luck ahead.
SUBSTITUTES
Rafinha 8/10
By far the most active outfield player of the game, Rafinha showed incredible promise after replacing Suarez in the 37th minute. The Brazilian ace beat defenders effortlessly and was quite close to scoring as well, notably hitting the bar.
Ivan Rakitic 6/10
Rakitic’s arrival to the club didn’t really matter anything since his replacement Alena was doing pretty much the same. Indeed, the Croatian international exchanged passes and occasionally provided extensive attacking support when needed.
Carles Perez N/A
Replaced Roberto in the 76th minute as Valverde opted for more bite into the attack. But it was too little too late.
Stat courtesy: Whoscored
