Reaction : FC Barcelona wins at Granada

FC Barcelona wins at Granada. There are some matches in football where everything goes your way and this was definitely one of them. A big mistake by Soldado when Griezmann scored, a handball seconds before the buildup to Messi’s goal and a silly foul on Pedri for Messi to convert a fantastic free kick.

This was far from an outstanding performance, but it was a decent one. Koeman finally made the right substitutions. Messi rested, Puig was given twenty minutes and Griezmann slotted in nicely.

We need this from the Frenchman consistently. He’s a €120m player and needs to play like it, we know he can.

Pedri and Dembélé have performed excellently. Don’t think we’d ever seen Ousmane with so many mature and smart decisions as of late, it’s as if he realized his flaws and now knows how to manage his abilities better.

First decent outing by Umtiti in over a year, a miracle. The whole team seems a lot more focused than what we saw a few months ago, a good sign.

Riqui Puig played for twenty minutes with pure Barcelona class, responsible for the red of Granada. Furthermore, he almost had an assist. He’s a spectacular midfielder and deserves more from Koeman, someone he’s going to outlast at the club.

We saw many positive signs, but we know Granada have been really flawed at the back, and the limitations of Barcelona so let us be patient.