UEFA Champions League | Barcelona 0-0 Slavia Prague: 3 Talking Points

Fresh off their 3-1 defeat away to Levante in LaLiga over the weekend, Barcelona returned to action in the Champions League when they hosted Slavia Prague and would have sought to get back to winning ways against the Czech champions.

The Catalans came into the fixture holding a three point advantage in the group and a victory here would have all but guaranteed their progress to the next round, but that failed to happen, as a resilient Slavia Prague put up a good fight to keep the Catalans at bay and leave Camp Nou with a point.

The draw means that Barcelona have eight points after four matches and while not entirely disastrous; with matches against Dortmund and Inter Milan to come, they would have their work cut out to ensure progression to the knockout rounds.

In this piece, we shall be highlighting three talking points from the fixture.

#3 Pressure mounts on Ernesto Valverde

After impressing with his work in the dugout with Athletic Bilbao, Ernesto Valverde was announced as the replacement for Luis Enrique as Barcelona's manager.

However, despite winning the double in his first season and the league in each of his first two seasons at the helm of Barcelona, the overwhelming consensus is that the 55-year-old has not performed up to expectation.

The driving factor behind this school of thought is that Barcelona have failed to translate their domestic successes onto the continent, with their embarrassing eliminations from the last two Champions League campaigns serving as a sore thumb.

During the off-season, the Blaugrana splashed the cash in the transfer market, spending in excess of €250m to bring in Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong, and Junior Firpo to the Camp Nou and it was expected that Valverde would successfully blend in the new recruits to make Barcelona more competitive.

However, it has been a less than ideal start for the Catalans and they have so far lost three LaLiga games from just 11 rounds of matches which is disappointing to say the least.

Coming up against a side with next to no European pedigree like Slavia Prague at Camp Nou, the home side were expected to stroll their way to victory but the fact that they could only post a tepid draw would do little to ease the pressure on Valverde.

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#2 Ousmane Dembele fails to lay his marker

Things have not exactly panned out to plan for Ousmane Dembele ever since he completed his mega move from Borussia Dortmund to Barcelona in the summer of 2017.

The French international had been signed for a hefty sum as the club's record signing to replace the PSG-bound Neymar, but a serious injury less than a month into his Barcelona career effectively put paid to his first season with the club.

Since then, recurring injury problems as well as accusations of his lack of professionalism have hampered Dembele's growth and having been dropped from the matchday squad for the defeat to Levante over the weekend, Valverde laid the gauntlet down to the World Cup winner to prove his worth.

That opportunity came against Slavia Prague as the former Rennes man was started from the get-go against the Czechs.

However, despite showing flashes of his brilliance and putting the Slavia defense on the backfoot with his pace, Dembele showed signs of nervousness and made a number of wrong decisions in the final third.

In what was an indictment of his woeful display on the evening, he was substituted for youngster Ansu Fati in the 65th minute and the expression on his face revealed that he knew he had not done enough.

The injury to Luis Suarez offers Ousmane Dembele an opportunity to stake a claim to a starting spot, but having failed to take his opportunity against Slavia Prague, it is hard to imagine that he would get too many opportunities again.

#1 Slavia Prague good value for the stalemate

Slavia Prague impressed against Barcelona

When the draws for the Champions League were concluded, it pitted Slavia Prague with Borussia Dortmund, Inter Milan, and Barcelona.

All three are former European champions and despite their impressive record domestically, nobody would have given Slavia Prague any chance of making a mark in Group F of the competition.

They began their tournament with a 1-1 draw away to Inter Milan at the San Siro having led till the dying minutes of the game and were unlucky to lose to Dortmund on matchday 2.

They hosted Barcelona on matchday 3 and were hugely impressive in the fixture, putting the Catalans on the backfoot for most of the game and it is not an exaggeration to state that the five-time European champions were relieved to hear the final whistle.

In the return leg at Camp Nou, Slavia Prague were not in the least bit intimidated by the historical nature of the stadium or quality of players they came up against and attacked their hosts from the get-go.

In a frantic first 20 minutes, Slavia had the Barcelona defenders at sixes and sevens, seemingly slicing through their midfield at will and forcing the Barcelona defense into numerous despairing clearances.

Nigerian international Peter Olayinka was a thorn in the flesh of Nelson Semedo throughout the match and even though Lionel Messi tried to force the issue with a number of individually brilliant runs, you would be hard pressed to find anyone who would suggest that Slavia Prague did not do enough for the draw.

With just two points from four matches so far, it looks highly likely that Slavia Prague's first Champions League run in 12 years is going to end at the group stage, but having picked up draws from two historical stadiums in Camp Nou and San Siro, this has been one hell of a ride for the Czech side.

Edited by Kingshuk Kusari