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Barcelona player ratings vs Villarreal: Messi wasn’t at his best

By Atharva Khadilkar

03 Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona celebrating his goal with his team during the Spanish championship La Liga football match between FC Barcelona and Villareal CF on December 02, 2018 at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavier Bonilla/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
03 Gerard Pique of FC Barcelona celebrating his goal with his team during the Spanish championship La Liga football match between FC Barcelona and Villareal CF on December 02, 2018 at Camp Nou stadium in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Xavier Bonilla/NurPhoto via Getty Images) /
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BARCELONA, SPAIN – DECEMBER 02: Gerard Pique of Barcelona celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and Villarreal CF at Camp Nou on December 2, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)
BARCELONA, SPAIN – DECEMBER 02: Gerard Pique of Barcelona celebrates after scoring his team’s first goal during the La Liga match between FC Barcelona and Villarreal CF at Camp Nou on December 2, 2018 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images) /

Left Back- Jordi Alba- 8/10

Jordi Alba played a good game and went on to impress in the second half. His attacking duty was amazing as he linked up really well with Leo Messi, who was playing a lot closer to him than usual. However, it was the defensive work that helped Alba have a good game. He made sure that Barcelona escaped the match without conceding and kept Samuel Chukwueze out of the area.

Centre Back- Clement Lenglet- 6.5/10

Clement Lenglet’s biggest problem has always been with maintaining a good line of communication with the players around him. That would have let him down if Villarreal had not hit the post when he and MATS had a snag and the defender gave the ball away to Gerard Moreno. On an overall perspective as well, it was far from an ideal match from him.

Centre Back- Gerard Pique- 8.5/10

Gerard Pique struck for the second match in a row and was an integral player for Barcelona at defence. He pressed high up but was usually the last man ahead of the goalie and maintained an offside trap that was hard to breach. Pique also kept Gerard Moreno silent to a point that he had to switch to troubling Clement Lenglet in the latter stages of the game.

Right Back- Nelson Semedo- 8.5/10

Nelson Semedo’s display against Villarreal was his best of recent days for Barcelona. The 22-year-old was fantastic in attack and linked up brilliantly with Ousmane Dembele. The right-back also tracked back regularly which was not something he did usually when attacking and managed to nullify Santi Cazorla. If he can play like this every week, Semedo may dethrone Sergi Roberto’s name from the regular eleven.

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