Espanyol 1-1 Barcelona: Player Ratings

Barcelona

Barcelona celebrate Pique's equaliser

Marc-Andre ter Stegen – 6

As usual, ter Stegen stayed calm and collected on the ball, and had nothing to do in terms of difficult efforts to save in the first half. In the second half, Espanyol had more chances, which he dealt with, he was just unlucky with the goal as he got a hand to it, but it was ultimately just a little too close to him to keep out.

Nelson Semedo – 5

Showed energy and eagerness to get in behind but his crossing was very poor. He played 13 minutes of the second half with very little attacking threat and was taken off for Roberto.

Gerard Pique – 6

He found himself on the wrong side of Baptistao on a couple of occasions causing him to commit fouls. Then in the second half, he threw a wild leg at Garcia’s cross instead of heading it and it led to Gerard’s goal. But, he would make up for it with a brilliant late header, similarly to how Sergio Ramos has done for Madrid in recent seasons.

Samuel Umtiti – 7

Umtiti put in another very solid performance, showing how comfortable he is in possession, along with making a few very good tackles to break up play.

Lucas Digne – 6

Digne defended well and limited Jurado to no chances all evening, but going forward he struggled. Navarro put in an extremely solid performance and it made it difficult for him to get in behind or get any crosses in.

Phillipe Coutinho – 7

The Brazilian rattled the crossbar with a classic Coutinho effort from outside the box which would have been a wonderful first goal for Barcelona, but it just wasn’t to be. However, apart from that, he was pretty quiet until he moved centrally in the final 15 minutes, where he began to flourish.

Coutinho came close to his first Barcelona goal when hitting the crossbar

Paulinho – 5

Paulinho had a very tough time, failing to make any late runs due to the watery surface which was making things difficult, and he was rather poor in possession, failing to advance forward much.

Sergio Busquets – 5

Busquets had a difficult day being pressed in midfield and found it hard to move the ball forward. He was also booked and found it difficult to break up play.

Andres Iniesta – 5

Iniesta, surprisingly, was dispossessed on quite a few occasions and struggled to make much of an impact at all. It was potentially due to him playing deeper than usual and the absence of Messi, but it was far from one of his better days.

Paco Alcacer – 6

Alcacer, with a rare start, was rather quiet. He showed some signs of some good link-up play with Paulinho and Suarez at times but he just didn’t see enough of the ball.

Luis Suarez – 6

Suarez was the player who was mainly trying to create something, linking up with Coutinho well at times and having a couple of shots, but the very wet surface was proving a problem for Barcelona when they tried to play fast-paced football.

Substitutions:

Sergi Roberto – 6

Roberto was energetic and tried to work the ball forward as much as possible from the bench. It was a pretty good cameo from the Spaniard.

Lionel Messi – 7

Messi was struggling to find his feet in the game off the bench, all until his superb delivery was headed in by Pique to make it 1-1, showing the difference he can make in an instant. He then went on to show off with some fabulous dribbles but he just wasn’t able to create or score a winner.

Messi's inch-perfect delivery set up Pique's equaliser

Jordi Alba – N/A

Alba played for the final 15 minutes and had a bit more of an impact going forward than Digne, but it wasn’t long enough.