Barcelona placing hope on Ousmane Dembele

Barcelona suffered another painful setback, losing 1-0 to Real Betis at the Camp Nou. It was Xavi Hernandez’s first defeat since taking over and it exposed the many flaws the Catalan side has.

However, not everything was doom and gloom.

In the aftermath, one of the bright spots for manager and club was the performance of Ousmane Dembélé. The Frenchman came on as a substitute in the second half and was the team’s most dangerous player, coming close to scoring on a couple of occasions.

Dembélé to be Barcelona’s ace up their sleeve against Bayern Munich

The fact he looked lively on the pitch and wasn’t seen holding his hamstring or grimacing is good news for Barcelona as Dembélé is going to be the wild card for Xavi in their crucial match against Bayern Munich.

According to Marca, Xavi has been impressed with the former Borussia Dortmund man and sees him as a critical piece should his side want to come out with a positive result against the German champions.

"“He is a great player and generates enthusiasm,” Xavi declared.“He is confident, he is active, having him or not totally changes the game. We have tried to protect him due to injuries, but he can be a differential player.”Source: Marca"

Dembélé can be a difference maker and has shown it at times when healthy. But staying healthy has been the problem.

He suffered an injury with France during Euro 2020 and was out for four months. He reappeared in the match against Dynamo Kyiv only to pick up another injury during training a few days later.

Without Ansu Fati, who in the end will not be fit in time, the onus will be on Dembélé to play the Lionel Messi role. In other words, be the destabilizer for the Bayern defense with his speed and unpredictability. At times, though, his freelancing has caused issues for his teammates who don’t know what he’s going to do.

The Frenchman has the qualities that no one else on the team, bar maybe Fati, has. However, much like his teammates up front, it’s his finishing that has let him down on key occasions.

The talk surrounding Dembélé of late has been about his future at the club. According to Sport, this week is going to be a decisive one where the player will need to make a decision whether or not he signs a new deal.

For Barcelona’s sake, they need to hope those negotiations won’t be a distraction. They need a fully concentrated Ousmane Dembélé if they want to stand any chance of getting a result away to Bayern Munich and progressing through to the next stage of the Champions League.