Barcelona player ratings vs PSV: Messi delivers the slender victory

Left Winger- Philippe Coutinho- 7/10

Philippe Coutinho made his return from injury against PSV Eindhoven and put in an average performance as compared to the rest of his teammates. The Brazil international was looking dangerous with the ball and cut inside several times to threaten the defenders and PSV’s goal, however, he looked a bit rusty. Nonetheless, his work rate on the ball was good and he also allowed Jordi Alba to do well while attacking. It has been a while since Coutinho last scored a goal, so if he can get that drought over soon, it’d be great.

Striker- Lionel Messi- 8.5/10

Lionel Messi played in the slightly unorthodox role of a striker, but he seemed to be leaving the central position empty to track back in order to create plays. The lack of striking options for Barcelona meant that they could not score too many goals, but Lionel Messi did compensate leaving the striker’s role in the second half through a goal and an assist. The assist to Gerard Pique was fairly fortunate off his free-kick, but they all count. Messi has now scored six times in the Champions League this season across three matches.

Right Winger- Ousmane Dembele- 7/10

With Luis Suarez injured and Dembele turning up strong for Barcelona at times, there would have been some hope from Ernesto Valverde of him scoring for a second game in a row. However, the case was not that way and Dembele endured a normal game without too much gimmicks. His passing and shooting was on point but did little to trouble a nicely organized Eindhoven side. He should start games more often, but there is nobody really who deserves to be sacrificed from the lineup for the moment.