Barcelona’s player ratings vs Betis: Messi’s efforts are wasted

Defensive Midfielder- Sergio Busquets- 5/10

Sergio Busquets would have done a lot better if his midfield partners supported him when Real Betis attacked. William Carvalho and Giovani Lo Celso were double teaming against the 30-year-old every time and despite all his efforts, there was nothing that Busquets could really do. He was clumsy with his challenges on the Betis players but to be fair on his part, Busquets had to do that in order to stop Barcelona’s situation from getting worse than it already was.

Right Midfielder- Arthur Melo- 5/10

Ernesto Valverde took the unexplainable decision of switching the midfield flanks of Arthur and Rakitic in this match and that was probably a big decision responsible in Barcelona’s downfall. The Brazilian midfielder looked extremely flustered down the right-hand side and could not form a formidable link up with Sergi Roberto and Lionel Messi. It was a second successive performance of poor standards from the 21-year-old and he needs to do better and match his potent.

Left Midfielder- Ivan Rakitic- 4.5/10

The effect that was visible on Ivan Rakitic because of going from right to left was a lot mostly because he has played his entire career as a right midfielder. The former Sevila midfielder could not stretch the Real Betis players and played passes only centrally. His poor display was another outcome of Valverde’s tactical gimmicks which ended up costing Barcelona not two, but three points. Rakitic saw a red card on Sunday and left Barcelona playing the game’s final ten minutes with ten men.