The third game in this season’s Champions League for Barca saw them line up at home against Greek giants, Olympiacos.
Placed down in 10th at the start of proceedings, whilst not winning wouldn’t have necessarily
been a disaster for the Catalans, earning three more points would clearly set Hansi Flick’s side up nicely for the remainder of the league stage.
Flick had decided to go with a very young side, in which Marcus Rashford at 27 was the oldest on show for the hosts, but did that have an effect on the outcome…
Fermin seals his Clasico place
There aren’t too many players who are a guarantee of goals for the Blaugranes, but give Fermin Lopez a sniff of a chance and, more often than not, he’ll finish like a seasoned striker.
The attacking midfielder has that innate ability to drift into positions unchecked and then unload with devastating accuracy.
Allied to his penchant for hard work and a genuine desire to win back the ball in the midfield areas, and his ability to dovetail seamlessly with his more technical colleagues, his is a unique skill set that’s still perfectly at home in this team.
His first senior hat-trick for the club was a deserved reward for a man-of-the-match performance, and he has to be a shoo-in for a Clasico start at the weekend.
Decent minutes for Dro
If Barcelona genuinely believe that Dro is another player worthy of a future in the first team, then these are precisely the type of games to boost the youngster’s confidence.
In the first half of his Champions League debut Dro looked comfortable in possession and found space and time with relative ease.
An 87.5% pass completion and his brilliant assist to Fermin for the second goal was evidence of this. The turn to take him away from the defender before he played in his team-mate was sensational.
At 17 years of age, there is plenty of time for him to develop both physically and mentally, and Hansi Flick will almost certainly be delighted with Dro’s application on the night.
Expect plenty more to come from this talented teen.
Defensive deficiencies still Barca’s Achilles heel
Although it took a VAR decision for Olympiacos to bag their goal via the penalty spot, the way in which Eric Garcia in particular switched off earlier in the move has to be a concern.
It wasn’t his only mistake but he was by no means alone in being off the pace, however.
Both full-backs were often either caught in possession or caught out of position, and if that’s replicated against Real Madrid, Los Blancos could have rich pickings.
Wojciech Szczesny’s kicking was awful and clearly didn’t inspire confidence, whilst Pau Cubarsi also looked uncharacteristically jittery at times.
Clearly there’s a lot of work to be done on the training pitch over the next few days if Barca are to take all three points home from the Bernabeu next time out.
