Barcelona are six points clear of the top of the table thanks to a hard-fought 1-0 win over Girona on Saturday afternoon at the Montilivi Stadium. Barça played one of their worst games of the season and needed a lot of luck to walk away with a narrow win, but Pedri’s second-half goal was enough to give them the win.
In the first installment of a new series about Barca Blaugranes, here are four winners and four losers of the game.
Note: The use of the terms “winner” and “loser” is not intended to constitute a judgment of the talent or character of these players. It’s just an easy way to rate their performance in a single game. Disrespect is not intentional.
winner
Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images
Pedri: Calling the winner the winner is pretty cheap, but on a day when Barça played very poorly there is no other way than to start with Pedri. Capping his 100th appearance for the club with a goal, he was the best player on the pitch and although the side didn’t play well they always looked most dangerous when the Spanish star was involved.
Jordy Alba: It was a shock not to see Alba in the starting XI and his absence was felt from the start, but his substitution at half-time made the attack look more competent, although his assist for Pedri was not official due to that of Girona goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga counts deflection, Alba was a crucial part of the best attacking move of the entire game from an otherwise terrible Barça performance.
Jules Kounde: If it wasn’t for Pedri I would feel very comfortable naming Kounde Barça’s best player. It’s remarkable how much he transformed defense with his speed, stance and positioning. He’s becoming more of a full-back, more comfortable making overlapping runs and making excellent passes down the lines to find teammates in dangerous positions. Kounde is the complete defender and calm presence this team needed.
Ronald Araujo: Kounde deserves his flowers, but Araujo was also a big part of the win in this game with some excellent anticipatory moves to win the ball and/or break attacks, a crucial goal-line demolition and some crazy displays of athleticism.
loser
Photo by David S. Bustamante/Soccrates/Getty Images
Raphinha: The Brazilian’s tough debut season at the Camp Nou may have bottomed out today. His set-piece performance was inexplicable, and his completion and decision-making killed the very few promising attacks the team developed in the first half. Ousmane Dembélé’s injury means more minutes for Raphinha in a crucial February and he just needs to find a way to play better. What he’s doing right now isn’t good enough.
Barça’s attack: This was the third 1-0 win in a row, but the other two games had moments of good to great attacking moments that just lacked finishing. That was different and worrying: Barça were uncreative, lazy, missed easy passes and kept making wrong decisions. It felt like watching Ronald Koeman’s team all over again, which is very unsettling when you go into a month of huge games against very good teams.
The new kit: I’m a fan of the Senyera uniforms. They honor the club’s roots and generally feature a very nice yellow and red scheme, but the new ones just don’t work at all. The thin horizontal red stripes on the chest just don’t make any sense, and the club crest in the middle of the shirt looks strange and is hidden by all that red. Here’s hoping we don’t have to see it again.
Girona’s mascot: Meet SISA the fly, Girona’s mascot and the worst dancer of all time:
whoops