Barcelona 3-0 Chelsea: Player Ratings

A magical Lionel Messi brace booked Barcelona’s place in the Champions League quarter-finals as a clinical display from the Spanish giants saw them beat Chelsea at the Nou Camp.

Messi opened the scoring in just three minutes with a finish that went through Thibaut Courtois’ legs from a tight angle, and it was the Argentinian who set up the second too. A fantastic run at the Chelsea defence ended with a pass to Ousmane Dembele who rifled a shot into the top left corner to make it 2-0 after 20 minutes.

The Blues were the better side throughout most of the second half and were unfortunate not to score, but another goal from Messi put the tie to bed just over an hour into the second leg.

Here are the player ratings from the game.

Chelsea

Thibaut Courtois – 4/10

Although he did make a couple of very good saves on the night, his mistake for Messi’s opener was inexcusable for a goalkeeper. Additionally, he nearly gifted Suarez a goal, passing it to him on the edge of the box. And finally, his night was rounded off by a second Messi nutmeg.

Victor Moses – 5/10

In reaction to Barcelona’s early goal, Chelsea went searching for an equaliser and made a great reaction, with Moses frequently showing width and getting on the overlap. However, his end product was woeful, and continued to be all night.

Antonio Rudiger – 6/10

The German was unfortunate not to score with a great leap near the end which ricocheted off the bar, but his defensive contribution wasn’t quite as good, as he was part of a defence that conceded three.

Cesar Azpilicueta – 5/10

Yesterday evening was arguably one of Azpilicueta’s worst performances in a Chelsea shirt. The Spaniard looked lost and was regularly being caught out of position. He wasn’t helped by the rest of the defence at times, but it just wasn’t a good night for the centre back.

Andreas Christensen – 4/10

Christensen, after a mistake in the first leg, looked extremely nervous under the fierce atmosphere of the Camp Nou. This whole season the centre-back has been playing with almost no fear, but tonight he was far from his usual standard and made many mistakes.

Marcos Alonso – 7/10

Alonso’s defensive capabilities are very questionable at times, and it is the reason why some Chelsea fans are requesting a new left-back be brought in this summer. However, going forward Alonso is incredible, and he played a prominent role in almost every Chelsea attack yesterday.

Cesc Fabregas – 3/10

Returning to his country and city of birth, as well as facing the team he has played for, Fabregas put in a horrific performance. He showed signs of his age starting to get to him, being slow on the ball and constantly getting caught out of position. Not only that, sloppiness with the ball, something you least expect from Fabregas was clear tonight, and it led to Barcelona’s second goal of the evening.

N’Golo Kante – 7/10

As he typically does, Kante put in a very solid performance. He regularly picked up the ball with interceptions and tackles high up the pitch and began Chelsea attacks. Unfortunately the Frenchman does not have clinical finishing as he showed when he dragged a great chance wide.

Willian – 8/10

As he has been so frequently in recent weeks, Willian was Chelsea’s best player on the pitch. The Brazilian showed he is more than capable of making a game his own, it was just a shame he was unable to score or set up a goal.

Eden Hazard – 6/10

Something Hazard seems to be seriously lacking at the moment is consistency. At the beginning the Belgian was seeing so much of the ball, sometimes too much as he dropped very deep to pick it up. Then, the game just petered out, with Hazard having very little involvement with any created chances.

Olivier Giroud – 5/10

Given the nod over Morata and Hazard through the middle, Giroud had a great chance to nail down his spot in the Chelsea team for now, but it was a poor performance from the Frenchman. He struggled to hold the ball up and had very few direct efforts on goal.

Substitutions:

Alvaro Morata – 6/10

Morata would be extremely disappointed to have been left on the bench for such a big game, but he had no complaints. Although Giroud wasn’t the best, Morata’s cameo was not much better.

Davide Zappacosta – 6/10

Zappacosta replaced Moses who was struggling with his end product, but Zappacosta offered nothing better. The Italian crossed the ball out of play more than once, and just struggled to break down Alba without help.

Pedro – N/A

Returning to play against the team where he spent many years and almost became a club legend, Pedro was given a warm round of applause. But, he would have no impact on the match, with the score being all but settled already before his arrival.

Barcelona

Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 6/10

Although Chelsea were threatening the Barcelona defence, the Barcelona shot-stopper was not forced into any difficult saves. He did well to keep out Alonso’s effort, but he was fortunate to keep a clean sheet with Chelsea hitting both the post and the crossbar.

Sergi Roberto – 6/10

Roberto is a wonderful player on the ball and brilliant at bringing the ball forward and going forward. However, his defensive abilities are at times, suspect. Luckily tonight he wasn’t punished, but later on in the tournament, it’s unlikely he will be used at full-back.

Gerard Pique – 8/10

Pique put in a brilliant defensive display on a night where Chelsea poured forward in an attempt to try and get something out of the tie. He was potentially lucky not to have had a penalty given for his tangle of legs with Marcos Alonso, but other than that the Spaniard was world class.

Samuel Umtiti – 8/10

Umtiti threw himself in front of every ball, blocking multiple efforts, and made sure his team would keep a clean sheet.

Jordi Alba – 7/10

It looked for a while last season that Alba was slowly being pushed out of the Barcelona line-up, but he looks rejuvenated under Ernesto Valverde. His electric pace is dangerous for any team on the attack, and in addition to that, he nullified any threat from Moses, and later Zappacosta, on the right all evening.

Ousmane Dembele – 7/10

The Frenchman scored Barcelona's second goal in style as he hit a thunderous effort into the top corner with his weak foot. There have been many rumours that Dembele is unsettled in Spain, but if tonight is anything to go by he will now be a lot happier.

Sergio Busquets – 7/10

As usual, Busquets was very good at recycling possession and starting Barcelona’s build-up play. He was forced off early through injury, but his work was done.

Ivan Rakitic – 6/10

Rakitic may not have been involved as much as he would have liked and was playing with the game mostly being played in front of him, which is unusual for him and Barcelona, but he still worked hard and put in a good shift.

Andres Iniesta – 7/10

Playing slightly out of position on the left, Iniesta still put in a very good performance for a man of his age. His highlight was a beautiful backheel to set Suarez up for a chance, showing he certainly still has it.

Luis Suarez – 8/10

Even though Suarez failed to get on the scoresheet and missed a good chance after being given the ball by Courtois, it was still a great performance from the Uruguayan. His lay-off set up Messi for the opener, and he also laid the ball off to Messi before he scored his second of the evening.

Lionel Messi – 9/10

Involved in every goal, it’s no surprise that Messi was by far the best player on the pitch, as he is so often. He squeezed the ball home from a very tight angle for the opening goal, made a terrific run before playing the least expected ball into Dembele which set up the second, and took two magnificent touches to take three players out the game as he once again knocked it through Courtois’ legs.

Substitutions:

Paulinho – 6/10

The Brazilian came on to replace Iniesta, but did not quite have the same impact. He missed a header from point-blank range from a corner, but other than that he was hardly involved during his cameo.

Andre Gomes – 7/10

Gomes this week labelled his time with the club as ‘hell’ but he was still given the opportunity to prove himself, as he replaced Sergio Busquets. And impress he did, as he showed some nice footwork at times along with keeping it simple and retaining possession.

Aleix Vidal – 6/10

Vidal tried his best to get involved and make things happen in attack, but after his arrival, the game had very little relevance, with Barca already having sealed their place in the quarter-final with their three-goal cushion.

Edited by Raunak J