A Lionel Messi-less Barcelona closed their 2020 in disappointing fashion after being held to a 1-1 draw by Eibar on Tuesday night at the Camp Nou.
The Argentine superstar was unavailable due to a minor ankle knock and Barcelona’s lack of punch without their talisman was evident throughout. If not for Ousmane Dembele’s fine strike after Kike Garcia took advantage of a horrific defensive error from Ronald Araujo, Barcelona would have ended the year in defeat.
After experiencing great success in their previous outing against Real Valladolid with a three-man back line, Ronald Koeman rolled out the same formation on Tuesday but with some notable changes. With Messi out, Antoine Griezmann and Martin Braithwaite were tasked with leading the attack. Junior Firpo was pushed into more of a midfield role, while Clement Lenglet, Ronald Araujo and Oscar Mingueza were tabbed as the three centre-backs.
Barcelona were awarded an early penalty via VAR for a foul on Araujo in the area on a corner kick. No Messi meant Braithwaite assumed penalty taking duties and he promptly fired wide of the mark.
Later on, Koeman’s men thought they had broken the deadlock with a good finish from Braithwaite, but VAR ruled the Danish striker was offside. Overall, though, Barcelona were not having much success penetrating an Eibar defence that was turning them away with relative ease.
In order to find a spark and generate more chances out wide, Koeman hauled off Sergino Dest at half time and brought on the recently returned Dembele. The Frenchman should have done a lot better when played in by Pedri and just had Eibar goalkeeper Marko Dmitrovic to beat, but the World Cup winner was unable to convert.
Moments later Eibar’s veteran striker Kike Garcia showed Dembele how to get the job done by taking advantage of a lazy touch from Araujo and beating goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen with a fine finish to make it 1-0 to Eibar.
Koeman turned to his bench for a response, with Philippe Coutinho and Trincao on for Miralem Pjanic and Griezmann respectively.
It could not have worked out better, as some nice linking up between Coutinho and Junior Firpo saw the former Real Betis man whistle a pass across to Dembele, who rocketed a shot into goal to pull Barcelona level 1-1.
Koeman’s last changes saw Sergio Busquets replace Lenglet, followed by out-of-favour Riqui Puig getting a late run-out in place of Pedri.
Each side fancied a winner, with Barcelona coming close through Trincao, only to see his shot roll wide in stoppage time.
In the end, Barcelona’s night ended with Coutinho hobbling off the pitch with an apparent knee injury, leaving Koeman with plenty of things to contemplate heading into 2021.
Match Sheet:
1.- Barcelona: Ter Stegen, Dest (Dembele, min. 46), Lenglet (Busquets, min. 81), Araujo, Firpo, Pjanic (Coutinho, min. 66), De Jong, Pedri, Griezmann (Trincao, min. 66), Mingueza, Braithwaite
1.- Eibar: Dmitrovic, Pozo, Burgos (Oliveira, min. 73), Bigas, Soares, Sergio, Diop, Inui, Exposito, Kazdior (Recio, min. 81), Kike Garcia (Muto, min. 73).
Goals: 0-1, min. 57: Kike Garcia; 1-1, min. 67: Dembele
Referee: Alberola Rojas (Castilla y La Mancha).
Yellow cards: Sergio Alvarez (Min. 75) for Eibar, Recio (Min. 83) for Eibar
Red cards: None
Stadium: Camp Nou
Attendance: 0
