Opinion: Thoughts on Barcelona Copa del Rey clash against Cultural Leonesa
Barcelona needed an injury-time header from Clement Lenglet to secure a win over third-tier side Cultural Leonesa in the first leg of their Copa del Rey last-32 tie on Wednesday. Barcelona rested several of the key players for their trip to León.
After the historic 5-1 win over bitter rivals Real Madrid, it turned out to be an uninspiring performance from the team. Barcelona should consider them lucky that they grind out a win out of this.
Throughout the whole game, Barca had only two shots on target. There were a lot of careless and clumsy passes and bad plays all around by the team. It was expected to be like this because we played a team that never played together.
I agree that they played the second-string side but, the difference in the quality of the first and second team should not be that much. No player seemed to be able to string two or three passes together.
Denis Suarez wore the captain's armband. He had an average game, and he failed to impress as he was not able to contribute much to the game.
Paco Alcacer moved to Borussia Dortmund this summer, and I firmly believe that Denis should take a similar route. He should join a team which suits his playing style. He is a really talented player who deserves more minutes.
With the quality of player Barcelona has, it is very difficult for Denis to get any playing time. He is a good player who needs more playing time to shine, and Barcelona can't provide him with that.
Leonesa played brilliantly, but they were just not good enough to take advantage of Barcelona's sloppy game. They were great in defence but terrible in the offence.
They played their hearts out and gave their 100%. They created a lot of opportunities for scoring goals, but they lacked the finishing touch to bury those chances in the back of the net.
Aleñá definitely deserves a chance in the first team. He is one of the brightest talents to come from La Masia academy in recent times and can become a star player for Barcelona in future. He had a brilliant game. His ball keeping, long passes, defensive ability, and long-range shots make him a good candidate for the Barcelona's midfield.
Barcelona started with a backline of Semado, Cuenca, Chumi, and Miranda Considering the fact that Cuenca, Chumi and Miranda are just 18-19-year-old kids, they performance showed a lot of abilities.
The defence was compact and young La Masia graduates Cuenca and Chumi put up a stable and brilliant performance. Currently, Umtiti is injured, and Vermaelen is also out of the picture. The performance of the youthful La Masia graduates provides a hope that they can play a part in the team's run in LaLiga if we need them in the future.
Regarding first team players, Vidal impressed the most. He looked hungry and was eager to make an impact in the match. Dembele put up a disappointing show. He was too inconsistent to be on the pitch. He regularly lost the balls, lost possession, and showed not much intent to win the balls back. He had his moment of brilliance and got an assist in the end, but that should not overshadow the overall performance.
I won't have much to say on Malcom because he played his first match in two months, and it is understandable that we need to give him more minutes to judge his playing abilities.