Fermin Lopez’s masterclass. Barcelona player ratings for the match against Valencia by Dailysports
Luis Torres
Dailysports's expert
It was a real beating of kids, truly. Everyone knew Barcelona would win, but not by such a score… At first, it seemed like the match was over already in the 14th minute when the score became 3-0. Then, during the rest of the first half, the “blaugranas” scored two more goals. And in the second half, they added another two. It felt like the Catalans decided to score all the goals against Valencia that they couldn’t score against Getafe in the previous round.
There’s not much to say about this match. Valencia is a club with a fairly rich history, and it will be sad if they get relegated to Segunda. But with this level of play in La Liga, there’s no place for "Los Che".
Best players of the match for Barcelona:
Fermin Lopez
2 goals and 2 assists. Honestly, we don’t even know what else to add. He looked absolutely amazing today.
Ferran Torres
As we’ve already said, in any other team, he would be a starting player and possibly even a key player (just like Lopez). But not in Barcelona, with its competition and big names like Lewandowski. Today, Torres managed to start, show himself, and scored already in the 8th minute. He was also the most active player in attack, taking the most shots and making the most touches in the opponent’s penalty area. By the way, Tárrega’s own goal came from a cross by Ferran. We really hope he gets more playing time.
Raphinha
At first, in the 14th minute, Lopez made a great cross to Raphinha, resulting in a goal from the Brazilian. Then, near the end of the first half, he was set up in a great position. His shot hit the crossbar! And the ball luckily rebounded to Lopez, who scored again. So, Raphinha indirectly assisted Lopez.
But the Brazilian had a solid game overall. Besides the goal, he had 2 shots on goal and 3 key passes. While it doesn’t impress as much as Lopez and Torres’ performances, it’s still enough to deserve praise.
Notable mentions:
Even though this article is about Barcelona, we have to talk about Mamardashvili. Probably one of the best goalkeepers at the moment, but in this match, he was... absolutely terrible. At least three of the goals can be blamed on him. We don’t want to downplay Barcelona’s achievement, but it will be interesting to see the reaction of Liverpool’s bosses, who have already bought the Georgian.
Player ratings for Barcelona:
- Balde A. - 7
- Victor P. - 6
- Garcia E. - 7
- de Jong F. - 8
- Casado M. - 7
- Kubarsi P. - 7
- Kounde J. - 7
- Lewandowski R. - 7
- Lopez F. - 10
- Martin J. - 7
- Raphinha - 8
- Torre P. - 6
- Torres F. - 9
- Fort E. - 6
- Szczesny W. - 7
- Yamal L. - 8
