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Alejandro Balde was reportedly unhappy after not featuring in Barcelona's 1-0 LaLiga win against Atletico Madrid on Sunday (3 December).
The 20-year-old played over 3,100 minutes across 44 matches last season and was arguably one of the first names on Xavi Hernandez's team sheet every week. His playing time has, however, taken a slight hit in recent months, largely because of Joao Cancelo's introduction.
Balde has started just 13 of his team's 20 matches across competitions this season. He was also left out of the starting XI in his team's 2-1 UEFA Champions League win over Porto last week. In fact, his last three appearances in Europe have come from the bench.
But while the Spaniard made a late substitute appearance against the Portuguese, he was left as an unused substitute against Atletico Madrid. According to journalist Gerard Romero (h/t BarcaUniversal), he was unhappy at being subbed in despite warming up on the sidelines for a while.
Apparently, Balde went straight into the dressing room after the full-time whistle instead of congratulating and celebrating with his teammates on the pitch. Cancelo played the full 90 minutes at left-back and delivered a strong performance to help his team beat Atletico.
Joao Felix's 28th-minute against his parent club was enough to hand Barca all three points. They sit third in the table with 34 points from 15 matches — four behind leaders Real Madrid.
The numbers from Barcelona's win against Atletico Madrid
It is hard for visiting teams to keep the majority of the ball on Barcelona's home ground, and that was the case for Atletico Madrid as well.
Los Colchoneros, despite chasing the game for over an hour, kept just 41% possession. They played 425 passes, managing an 85% completion rate, which was, again, bested by Xavi's side.
Barcelona completed 91% of the 615 passes they attempted, managing 13 shots. But only two of those were on target, while Atletico Madrid hit the target four times from their eight total attempts.
Barcelona recorded 2.55 xG (expected goals), which was considerably more than Atletico's 0.62. Diego Simeone's side are nevertheless still just three points behind Barca in the table, with a game in hand.
