Frenkie de Jong and Pedri each went off injured throughout Barcelona’s drab 0-0 draw with Athletic Club in La Liga on Sunday night.
Barca had gone into the sport hoping to avenge their Copa del Rey defeat to Athletic earlier in 2024, however their offensive plans had been completely scuppered by the injuries suffered by their star midfield duo.
The outcome implies that Xavi Hernandez’s aspect missed the chance to maneuver as much as second place in La Liga, failing to capitalise on Girona’s 1-0 defeat to Mallorca.
How the sport unfolded
The opening half-hour had been fiercely contested by each side, with neither aspect in a position to actually seize a foothold in proceedings.
Things started to show in Athletic Club’s favour nonetheless when Frenkie de Jong was pressured off with a worrying ankle harm – twisting it after going up for an arial duel. Without their common out-ball in the center of the park, Barca proved to be much less immune to the house aspect’s excessive press, main to a couple half-decent alternatives as a outcome.
Despite Athletic taking some management of proceedings, it was the guests who’d come closest to opening the scoring earlier than the half-time whistle.
After recognizing Unai Simon nicely off his line after sweeping up a by ball over the Athletic Club defence, Joao Cancelo would see his close to 50 yard (sure, 50 yard) chipped effort be prevented from going over the road by a mixture of Simon’s fingertips and defender Yeray Alvarez.
Barca’s harm woes would go from dangerous to worse earlier than the half-time whistle, as Pedri hobbled off with one more hamstring harm in added time on the finish of the primary 45.
The injured suffered by Pedri proved to completely scupper Barca’s offensive form and had been pegged again into their very own half for a lot of the remainder of the sport. The again 4 had been in a position to defend stoutly beneath intense stress from Athletic Club, with Pau Cubarsi impressing by making just a few final ditch tackles in the field.
GK: Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 6/10 – Despite Athletic largely dominating the sport, he did not have a lot to do.
RB: Jules Kounde – 8/10 – Back to his finest on Sunday night, successful 9 duels, making six clearances and successful 100% of his tackles.
CB: Ronald Araujo – 7/10 – A strong outing alongside Cubarsi on the coronary heart of Barca’s defence.
CB: Pau Cubarsi – 7/10 – Put in a really spectacular efficiency, successful the ball again for his staff 4 occasions and making an important block in the second half to maintain the scores stage.
LB: Joao Cancelo – 6/10 – Came inside a whisker of scoring the very best aim of the season to this point in the primary half.
CM: Frenkie de Jong – N/A – Forced off with a relatively worrying trying ankle harm.
CM: Andreas Christensen – 5/10 – Couldn’t show a lot high quality on the ball in the center of the park.
CM: Ilkay Gundogan – 5/10 – Forced out of his extra superior midfield function when the harm bug struck in the primary half.
RW: Raphinha – 3/10 – Barely touched the ball throughout his 75 minutes on the pitch.
ST: Robert Lewandowski – 5/10 – The Polish striker wasn’t given a lot service from his teammates.
LW: Pedri – 5/10 – Limped off injured in the primary half with the one more harm.
Substitutes
SUB: Fermin Lopez (25′ for De Jong) – 6/10 – Struggled offensively, however labored laborious in the defensive third.
SUB: Lamine Yamal (45′ for Pedri) – 5/10 – Failed to make an affect off the bench.
SUB: Inigo Martinez (75′ for Cubarsi) – 6/10
SUB: Joao Felix (75′ for Raphinha) – 5/10
SUB: Oriol Romeu (75′ for Christensen) – 6/10
Manager – Xavi Hernandez – 6/10 – His tactical plan went up in smoke when De Jong and Pedri hobbled off.
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