Aside from the continued reasonable form of Marcus Rashford, the elegance of Pedri and Wojciech Szczesny’s laudable attempts to stem the tide, there wasn’t anything to celebrate for Barcelona in Seville.
Their first defeat at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan in 1o years was fully deserved, and does ask questions of this side after a tough midweek fixture in the Champions League.
Though Rashford got the visitors back into the match with a fine strike – and had Robert Lewandowski scored the penalty – we may
have seen an entirely different ending, but that’s clutching at straws.
Ultimately, the Catalans offered little by way of a riposte and the two late goals from the hosts only added gloss to what was, for them, a performance of real note.
It’s clear that the high line does take a lot out of the defenders, but when you start a game as poorly as Jules Kounde and Ronald Araujo did, there’s little excuse.
Certainly, on the basis of that first-half performance, Hansi Flick would be well within his rights to place Eric at right-back and bring Andreas Christensen into the central defensive position to partner Pau Cubarsi.
Araujo may well be captain material in terms of his leadership qualities, but a top-class Barcelona centre-back he is not.
With the hosts flooding the midfield too, it gave Pedri and Frenkie de Jong little time and space to be able to affect play in the manner in which they’ve become accustomed to. Indeed, the blueprint on how to stop Barca has been well and truly uncovered after this showing.
Up front, Lewandowski was again statuesque at times, whilst Ferran clearly wasn’t up for the fight.
Can you make allowances for the heat – around 33 degrees at kick-off time? It’s a stretch to be perfectly honest.
Injuries to key players are a more acceptable reason as to why this game came at the wrong time for Flick and Co. With Lamine on the wing and, perhaps, Fermin more centrally, there would arguably have been much more zip and creativity on show from the visitors.
Would they have gone on to win the game? It’s a moot point.
In reality, the international break couldn’t have come at a better time for all concerned. Less a reset, more a rest that’s needed.
Girona, Olympiacos and Real Madrid all loom large before the end of the month, and a collective performance like the one seen on Sunday in any of those games can’t be contemplated.
