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Barcelona condemned to crushing 2-0 defeat by minnows Granada

By Chiranjib Ghosh

Barcelona's French forward Antoine Griezmann (L) and Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi react to Granada's second goal during the Spanish league football match between Granada FC and FC Barcelona at Nuevo Los Carmenes stadium in Granada on September 21, 2019. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP) (Photo credit should read JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images)
Barcelona's French forward Antoine Griezmann (L) and Barcelona's Argentinian forward Lionel Messi react to Granada's second goal during the Spanish league football match between Granada FC and FC Barcelona at Nuevo Los Carmenes stadium in Granada on September 21, 2019. (Photo by JORGE GUERRERO / AFP) (Photo credit should read JORGE GUERRERO/AFP/Getty Images) /
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Barcelona were convincingly beaten 2-0 by Granada

The high-flying minnows Granada continued their dream run by registering a 2-0 victory against defending league champions Barcelona at the Estadio Nuevo Los Cármenes. Even Lionel Messi could not save the Blaugrana after coming off the bench.

Barça conceded very early on in the game, with a decisive mistake from debutant Junior Firpo essentially gifting Ramon Azeez a goal. Granada did not dominate possession, and neither were they very dangerous on the counter-attack.

But it was simply Barça’s inefficacy in the opposition box which led to this disappointing loss. Antoine Griezmann was invisible, as usual. In the first-half, the only ray of hope was Carles Pérez, who showed great dynamism.

Surprisingly, Ernesto Valverde chose to take off Pérez at half-time. The Basque coach brought in Lionel Messi, and replaced the utterly listless Firpo with Ansu Fati. Nélson Semedo moved to left-back, while starter Sergi Roberto moving down to right-back.

But the situation did not change even with Messi and Fati. They showed a fair bit of camaraderie, but the combination did not spark enough to make a difference. But it was substitute Arturo Vidal who ended Barça’s chances of taking away anything from the trip to Andalusia.

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The Chilean box-to-box midfielder came on to replace Ivan Rakitić, and immediately gave away a penalty by committing handball in the box. Winger Álvaro Vadillo coolly dispatched the spot-kick to extend Granada’s lead over the stunned visitors.

Barça continued to dominate possession, but failed to make anything of it. In the end, Barça were subjected to an ignominious 2-0 defeat by Granada, after having managed to get just a single shot on target.

Frenkie de Jong was Barça’s best player by a long distance. The 21-year old Dutch defensive midfielder looked comfortable on the ball, but received very little support from Rakitić and Roberto. Ultimately, De Jong looked isolated but did the best he could.

Sergi Roberto had a terrible game. He gave the ball away very easily, and made some very loose passes. Antoine Griezmann continued his poor start to life at Barça, and Luis Suárez was unable to make a tangible impact.

Junior Firpo had the worst possible debut, setting the stage for the eventual loss. On the other hand, Ansu Fati continued to look impressive. Lionel Messi was rusty but brilliant, but the maestro is some distance from being fit enough to return to the first-team.

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With this loss, Barça have slid down to 7th position in the La Liga table, with a further drop expected. Things look grim for Barcelona, and especially for Valverde. If a turnaround does not happen quickly, bad things are bound to occur.

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