Champions League: 5 players who were poor in mid-week

FC Barcelona v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg
FC Barcelona v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg

There were a few upsets in this week's Champions League quarter-final matches, with Juventus and Manchester United performing the worst out of the lot.

United's defence is, to put it bluntly, dreadful. Phil Jones and Chris Smalling are nowhere near good enough to be wearing the shirt, let alone be expected to operate in the heart of the Red Devils' defence. Both full-backs were susceptible to attacks, too, and failed to prevent the likes of Messi from heading on through to goal - a crucial error.

The same can be said for Juventus, whose defensive shape was all over the place and pretty much allowed Ajax to play the stunning football they wanted to without a care in the world. Juventus held back and let Ajax pile on the pressure, and that's how the Dutch side eliminated them.

Here are five of the worst players from this week's fixtures.


#5 Paulo Dybala

Juventus v Ajax - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg
Juventus v Ajax - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg

Make no doubt about it, Paulo Dybala was very poor in this match. The frustration on the face of his teammate, Cristiano Ronaldo, was clear for all to see - Dybala was cancelled out of the game and never made any real impact.

As a result, much of the work was left for Ronaldo to do, and although he bagged a goal to put Juventus ahead, it wasn't enough in the end.

Dybala only had one sucessful dribble in the whole game, was dispossessed four times, and had just the one shot on target.

He came away from the match with a weak 6.6 rating (WhoScored), illustrating just how ineffective the Argentine was in this pivotal fixture. It's games like these where players prove how good they are; it's all well and good looking great against a side who are odds-on favourites for relegation, but if you can't perform in big matches, you are mediocre.

#4 Ashley Young

FC Barcelona v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg
FC Barcelona v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg

Ashley Young was actually so poor in this match that fans called for him to retire after the game. He was booed off with the rest of the United squad for their dreadful performance and it was made clear that things need to change for Red Devils, before they face even more losses.

Young didn't win a single aerial battle and cost United the first goal when he stumbled in front of Messi, who snatched the ball and went on to score the opener.

He began to recover his form somewhat later on into the match, but by that point, the damage had already been done. Young couldn't handle Lionel Messi down the left flank and when he was responsible for marking Suarez, he lost him consistently as well.

It didn't help matters that the rest of United's defence were poor, too, but Young was rightly singled out as one of the worst players out on the pitch that night, and I don't think anybody can dispute that.

#3 David de Gea

FC Barcelona v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg
FC Barcelona v Manchester United - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg

Another United player who had a terrible game was David de Gea. The Spaniard was caught unawares as Messi curled in the first goal towards the far post, but he was totally to blame for the second goal that was conceded.

Messi swerved in and out of United's defence like they were school kids before firing a tame shot on goal - he had mishit it, really, so the Barca fans groaned, expecting De Gea to collect it with ease.

Instead, the ball trickled under him as he dived to pounce on top of it, and rolled into the back of the net. It was a disastrous error from De Gea which effectively spelt the end of the road for the Red Devils, as they were now 3-0 down on aggregate with no real signs of even getting a goal back.

To add insult to injury, Coutinho fired a shot from over 25 yards out, which floated past De Gea into the top corner. There wasn't a great deal he could do about it but it just showed how easy it was for the Catalans to score - it was effortless.

#2 Aymeric Laporte

Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg
Manchester City v Tottenham Hotspur - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg

Aymeric Laporte essentially cost City dearly in this tie. Had he not made the two errors that led to Son Heung-Min's two goals within 10 minutes, City would have cruised to victory and progressed through to the semi-finals without much of a worry, as Spurs were poor at the back, too.

Not one, but two errors, is simply unacceptable in a fixture as important as this. Granted, it was just an off-game for the 24-year-old but it couldn't have come at a worse time.

The other centre-back with him, Vincent Kompany, wasn't much better but he remained consistent and composed throughout the match, ensuring that no more mistakes were made.

Laporte improved as the game went on but the damage had been done at that point and there was no going back. City had their work cut out after that, and things were far more difficult than they needed to be.

#1 Mattia De Sciglio

Juventus v Ajax - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg
Juventus v Ajax - UEFA Champions League Quarter Final: Second Leg

Like his teammate Paulo Dybala, Mattia De Sciglio was utterly ineffective in this match and allowed Ajax's strikers to trample all over him as they marched on towards goal.

From the get-go, De Sciglio looked out of his depth at right-back, unable to deal with Neres at all throughout the game. And when Dusan Tadic began to float out to that flank, De Sciglio had even more trouble defending Juventus from the oncoming attacking moves.

His lack of composure and discipline on the ball led to Ajax scoring the first goal through van de Beek just after Ronaldo had scored the opener for Juventus, and in total, just one dribble, two tackles and one aerial battle won, simply isn't good enough for a player at this level.

Massimiliano Allegri will be watching the market this summer as he looks to rebuild his backline; De Sciglio may very well be one of the players that gets offloaded, given his current form...

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Edited by Zaid Khan