Barcelona maintained their perfect start to La Liga with a sixth straight win as Luis Suarez and two own goals secured a 3-0 win at Girona.
We analyse the performance of one player from the clash as we take an in-depth focus on Brazilian Paulinho…
Goals – 0
Shots – 1
Shots on target – 0
Touches – 44
Key passes – 1
Dribbles – 1
Dispossessed – 0
Aerials won – 1
Ernesto Valverde talks to Paulinho
The Brazilian started his second La Liga game in a row and although he caused Girona some issues in the first half it was a quiet display overall.
He was brought off in the 67th minute but if anyone from Barca’s midfield should have been replaced first it was Ivan Rakitic who wasn’t enjoying his best display in a Barca shirt as he was deployed in the Sergio Busquets DM role with Paulinho alongside Andres Iniesta.
Still, the focus is on Paulinho and the 29-year-old showed some majestic touches at times, though the one he connected with for a header to flash wide before the break was pretty poor.
He is clearly their biggest threat in the air from set-pieces and should have scored. The one main criticism you can stick him with is that very often he plays the backpass, moves high up the pitch and when Barca lose the ball he’s caught out of position and sides can exploit the space.
A solid but not spectacular display from the Selecao star.
36th min CHANCE: Six yards out he finds space excellently from a corner on the right but the Brazilian gets a poor connection on the ball and his header drifts harmlessly wide of goal. Should have done better.
67th min SUB: Barcelona bring off Paulinho, who hasn’t done loads – one flashed header wide aside – and Sergio Busquets replaces him.
Paulinho competes for the ball with Girona’s Pablo Maffeo
Some powerful ventures forward and he should have got his name on the scoresheet but a largely ineffectual performance which no doubt some sections will use to beat boss Ernesto Valverde with for starting him.
All statistics are compiled using whoscored.com
