Unimpressive Barcelona

It was a match, where Barcelona seemed to fall asleep against the 19th ranked side. The match lacked pace and intent until the 42nd minute when the 17-year old sensation Ansu Fati gave the Catalans the lead and hinted that more goals were coming. In fact, Barcelona are a different kettle of fish against the lower-ranked sides these days – score more goals while their best players exploit the opportunity to smash records.

Of course, Messi then scored his 699th goal for club and country from the penalty spot as Barca extended their advantage at the top of the table to five points, at least until Real Madrid host Valencia on Thursday.

There was a bit of spark from Leganes when Miguel Angel Guerrero twice beat Marc-Andre ter Stegen from the right-hand side of the penalty area, only to be denied by first Clement Lenglet. But the goal from Fati let them sit on the back foot.

The officials then took center stage in the second period, with the VAR asked to assess a pair of controversial moments in quick succession. Antoine Griezmann saw a goal ruled out when replays showed Nelson Semedo was a step offside before crossing for his team-mate to tuck into the net.

Leganes coach Javier Aguirre was shown a red card in stoppage time, seemingly for dissent as the match ended in favour of defending champions of La Liga.

For Barcelona, Fati is showing a lot of promise. Even though there are speculations that Manchester United would make an offer to Barcelona for the 17-year old, but it is highly unlikely that Fati would leave Camp Nou.

“We won't use players from the academy to make money," club director Xavier Viljoana told Sport. "In principle, we have no intention of selling the players we believe will make the first team”.

"I think he's happy here and he will be an important player in the coming years."

In a front line, which badly needs the cutting edge in the coming weeks, when Barca would log horns against top teams, the smart-finishing abilities and energy of Fati would be needed. So far, Antoine Griezmann has cut a frustrating figure, which gives rise to the question yet again, why did he leave Atletico Madrid?

He was a lost soul upfront – seemed isolated from others and left thinking what was he actually doing out there!

Overall, Braca’s performance was unimpressive.

Maybe it was a ploy not to waste too much against a lower-ranked side.   

Note: This article has been posted at Cricketsoccer as CSdesk 0n 17/06/2020 Unimpressive Barcelona 

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Faisal Caesar