Player Ratings: Barça vs Girona

Barça have suffered yet another defeat to Girona. This one would have the same score as last time, 4-2. Xavi's men had absolutely no answer for Michel's pace and space counter attacks that left the back line stretched way too thin. Real questions will be had this summer, about a lot of aspects of this team. Let's take a look at some player ratings from this one:

Goalkeeper

Ter Stegen - 5/10: He did prevent a few goals from leaking in, but Girona's 1st and 4th goals were simply bad goalkeeping. It could've been 5 or 6 without the German, but it also could've been 2 or 3 if he'd defended better. Real conversations will have to be had about his form and a possible backup to put a bit of pressure on him, because he has these unacceptable matches far too often.

Defenders

Cubarsí - 6/10: The slip in his form hasn't been entirely on him. With a team that plays with pace and space like Girona, the back line was always going to be stretched thin. On Girona's first goal, Cubarsí was in his spot, but Araújo goes out and gets taken out of the play. Cubarsí has to defend the near post and the far post, and he simply can't do both. Little plays like this have been Barça's recent downfall.

Cancelo - 5/10: Time and time again, the same issue pops up. If Cancelo isn't providing offense for you, then he's pretty much useless. When he was providing offense earlier in the year, all was good. Now that he's not, the issues are more visible. Girona picked Barça apart on the counter and Cancelo was quite often nowhere to be found.

Araújo - 6/10: He's depending way too much on his athleticism. His form has dipped quite a bit after having a small resurgence halfway through the season. He seems to be diving into tackles way too easily. He's out of position often. In this one, he had a bit of trouble with Dovbyk as well. He needs to be better, no doubt about it.

Koundé - 7/10: Koundé's form has massively improved in the last month or so even as Barça's defense has nosedived. I feel somewhat bad for him; he's consistently good both on and off the ball. He had a bit of a tough game against Girona, as any fullback would, but he was still the best defender by far and helped Yamal and Fermín out a lot on offense.

Midfielders

Gündoğan - 7/10: Gündoğan was, as usual, good on the ball and skillful going forward. He didn't go up quite as high as Christensen, until the Dane was subbed off, but he did well to maintain possession. There were times, especially down the right, that Barça's ball movement was quick and sharp. However, in this match, Girona took advantage of Gündoğan being the deepest midfielder by breaking down quickly along the flanks before the rest of the midfield could drop back to defend. He's not ideal for that kind of up and down match.

Christensen - 7/10: He's been playing his role quite well, and he's been advancing higher up the pitch with every match, it seems. He had a tremendous goal and was quite good in the first half - offensively. However, his more advanced position often meant he wasn't in a position to track back quickly enough for Girona's fast-paced counter attacks. Too often, it was Gündoğan back there alone, and once they bypassed him, it was basically a 4-on-4 with Barça's back line. Add to this Cancelo not tracking back either and Barça's back was stretched very thin.

Fermín - 7/10: Fermín has been one of Barça's top players this season for sure. He is dynamic and his movement is always great. He was one of the few midfielders really pressuring throughout his entire time on the pitch. While he didn't get a goal in this one, he provided his usual spark, especially in the first half.

Roberto - 6/10: An alright game (not good, but okay) that was utterly spoiled by an elementary mistake. Passing the ball backwards without seeing who was there first? He slipped, but he was going to play the pass, anyway. It's just such a silly mistake from someone who has a ton of experience and is the current captain. Individual mistakes like this one have popped up all season. They're not an excuse for poor tactics, as some might say, but they do contribute to losses more often than not.

Pedri - 6/10: You simply can't ask Pedri to come in 20 minutes before the end and expect him to save the team. Nine out of ten times, it's not enough time to fully set in and make an impact. It also wasn't conducive to taking away what Girona do best. When your team isn't imposing themselves on the game, allowing Girona to play exactly the game they wanted, asking Pedri to come in and flip the flow of the whole match was a hard ask.

Romeu - 6/10: Seemed like a bit of a white flag from Xavi to sub Romeu on in this one. It almost felt like a rushed defensive sub to stave off the humiliation of a fifth or sixth goal. To this end, he did alright. But there were no circumstances in which Romeu would've won you that game.

Forwards

Yamal - 8/10: This was quietly a very good match from the youngster. He drew a penalty, and also lobbed a great ball over the top to exploit Girona's space in behind for Christensen's goal. He also tried more than once to break through and find a final pass. For wingers like him that will create chance after chance, the success rate on any individual play doesn't need to be that high.

Lewandowski - 7/10: A penalty scored and a decent match from him as well. He's improved quite a bit recently, and he didn't have too many missed chances in this one. There was a moment when he over-dribbled, as is the Barça way apparently, but overall he did his job to fix defenders in the box and give shooting space to others, like Christensen.

Raphinha - 6/10: Good energy from him, but his overall performance is symptomatic of a larger Xavi problem. When Barça need a goal, his solution seems to be thrown on three extra forwards, remove a midfielder, and hope the other team doesn't continue to counter attack you - as they've been doing all game - now with a numerical superiority in the center of the field. Girona had a chance for three or four more goals after him and Félix came on, and the team suffered - but it's not exactly their fault.

Félix - 6/10: Similarly to Raphinha, his coming on does not mean good things for the team. Again, Félix has his issues, but his lack of impact isn't entirely on him. He also had very little time to do this in.

Ferran - 6/10: Simply not enough to really evaluate his performance here. I'd love to see him play more often at this point, and also as a starter.