Barcelona player ratings: Griezmann carries Barca to crucial win in La Liga title race vs. Villarreal
Messi was fairly quiet, but it didn't matter
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3 min read
Barcelona won a match they couldn't afford to lose, winning at Villarreal 2-1 on Sunday in La Liga. With Antoine Griezmann scoring twice, the club moved within two points of leaders Atletico Marid with the victory.
But how did each player perform in this one? Here are our player ratings for the match for every starter, substitute and manager.
All ratings are out of 10, and the higher the number the better. A zero would be a first-minute red card. A 10 would be like a dominant hat trick.
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Barcelona player ratings
| Name | Minutes | How did they do? | Rating |
|---|---|---|---|
(GK) Marc-Andre Ter Stegen | 90 | Made a couple good stops and was let down by his defense on their lone goal. A confident performance, but he wasn't all that busy. | 7 |
(DEF) Clement Lenglet | 90 | A fairly strong showing, but his positioning on the goal was quite poor. He did well to keep close to his attacker on set pieces and was strong in the air. | 7 |
(DEF) Gerard Pique | 90 | Horrific positioning on the goal. Like, he wasn't within 20 yards of where he needed to be, and it cost his team. Besides that, he was composed and did enough. Not the player he once was though. | 5 |
(DEF) Oscar Mingueza | 90 | Continues to produce consistent displays, earning more minutes with each performance. Handles the pressure well with precise passing into space. | 6 |
(MID) Sergio Busquets | 88 | Came off late after a decent shift, completing nearly 94 percent of his passes. Helped get the ball wide quickly to start the attack. | 6 |
(MID) Jordi Alba | 90 | Dangerous in the attacking third by creating chances. Defensively he got back and showed tremendous effort. Didn't get to connect much with Lionel Messi though. | 6 |
(MID) Pedri | 64 | Was off just after an hour and never getting into the match. He moved the ball well but struggled to get by defenders. | 5 |
(MID) Frenkie de Jong | 90 | Missed an unbelievable chance moments in from two yards away. Really should have scored in this game. As a passer, he was brilliant and could have had himself quite a day had his teammates finished the chances. | 6 |
(MID) Sergino Dest | 45 | Came off at the break, but it is unclear why. An injury wasn't noticeable. Didn't do too much in the first half despite having space down the right. Had one decent look at goal. | 5 |
(FWD) Antoine Griezmann | 90 | What a display. Scored two goals, the first one with an audacious chip. The second came off an attentive steal on a pass back. Really finding his form. | 8 |
(FWD) Lionel Messi | 90 | Had three shots but just one on goal. Didn't get too far forward, trying to help create more than anything. It was a quiet afternoon, but luckily for his team, he didn't have to be the one to deliver. | 5 |
| Substitutes | Replaced | How did they do? | Rating |
Sergi Roberto | Dest (46') | A nice boost off the bench, creating a couple chances and just being that creative engine in the middle. | 7 |
Illaix Moriba | Pedri (64') | Another one who came in and almost delivered a goal. An understanding of where to be and almost delivered. | 6 |
Ousmane Dembele | Griezmann (80') | Got 10 minutes and created a chance. Only touched the ball four times. | 6 |
| Ronald Araujo | Busquets (88') | A late sub to waste time. | N/A |
| Manager | Subs used | How did the manager do? | Rating |
Ronald Koeman | 4 | He continues to get production out of Griezmann and didn't wait forever to make his changes. The team is back on track and starting to believe. They must follow this path, and he cannot over think it. | 7 |
