Barcelona player ratings vs Feyenoord from a wet Wednesday night at the Spotify Camp Nou that turned into a statement. Hansi Flick’s side won their Champions League league-phase opener 5-1, led by a Raphinha brace, a debut golazo from Karim Adeyemi and a free-kick from Lamine Yamal that arrived minutes after the 19-year-old had been handed the captain’s armband for the first time in his career.
Mundo Deportivo’s player-by-player report made Raphinha their man of the match; Barça Universal handed both the Brazilian and Lamine 9.5 out of 10. Here is how every Barça player rated in the 5-1 win over Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s side.
Barcelona player ratings vs Feyenoord: the defence
Joan García — 7. Underemployed for long stretches and dependable when he was not, holding a fierce Hadj Moussa strike in the first half and reading the space behind a high defensive line to smother Feyenoord’s counters. He could do little about the goal itself, though it continued an unwanted pattern: he conceded in every match of last season’s Champions League campaign and did so again on the opening night of this one.
Jules Koundé — 7. Restored to right-back with Eric García suspended for the European debut, and much improved on a scratchy start to the season — right up to the 82nd minute, when he switched off and Steijn nipped in behind him to convert Borges’s cross. As Mundo Deportivo put it, Steijn stole his wallet.
Pau Cubarsí — 8.5. Nineteen years old and holding the back line together without breaking sweat. He organised, he pointed, he stepped out with the ball, and his long diagonals were the first pass of several Barça attacks. The reference point at the back once again.
Andreas Christensen — 8. Flick backed the Dane’s experience over Gerard Martín for the Champions League opener and got exactly what he wanted: a clean, uncomplicated 90 minutes. He also drifted forward into the attacking third for the second goal, pinning the Feyenoord right-back and opening the corridor Adeyemi ran into.
João Cancelo — 8. A first start of the season at left-back in place of Xavi Espart, and the Portuguese looked like a man who has done this at the highest level for a decade. Excellent defensively, judicious going forward, the supplier of the pass that set up Adeyemi, and desperately close to a goal of his own after a lovely cut inside the box that clipped the post.
Midfield: Pedri and the metronome
Rodri — 7.5. The pause button in a side that plays at a sprint. With Barça’s front three tearing at Feyenoord, the summer signing was the one holding the ball still for a beat before releasing it. Withdrawn on 83 minutes for Gavi.
Pedri — 8.5. Close to faultless. Every decision he made with the ball at his feet came off, and the pick of them was the pass that put Raphinha in for the third goal just before the hour. Off before Raphinha in the second half, which is how the armband ended up where it did.
Dani Olmo — 7. Back in the starting eleven ahead of Fermín López and busy with it: good combination play, real fight without the ball, and one effort from outside the area that Ernst had to keep out. Replaced by Gabriel Jesus on 83.
The front three, and a first captaincy
Lamine Yamal — 9.5. Ruinous in the first half, when he reduced former Barça defender Mármol to a spectator with nutmegs and drag-backs, and decisive in the second. When Raphinha came off on 71 minutes, with Pedri already gone, the armband passed to Lamine — making him the youngest captain in the club’s history. Six minutes later he bent a free-kick through a wall that opened just enough and sprinted straight to the bench to celebrate with the man who had given him the armband.
Raphinha — 9.5. The captain set the tone inside three minutes, taking Lamine’s lay-off, sitting two defenders down with a feint and passing the ball into the net. He was everywhere thereafter and finished the job with a second from Pedri’s pass, his eighth goal of the season already. Man of the match, and off to a standing ovation.
Karim Adeyemi — 8.5. Preferred to Anthony Gordon on the left and utterly vindicated. On 22 minutes he collected Cancelo’s ball near the touchline, carried it diagonally towards the edge of the box with nobody willing to close him down, and curled a right-footed shot beyond Ernst for his first competitive Barça goal. Then came the backflip. Off on 63 minutes.
Off the bench
Anthony Gordon — 7. On for Adeyemi on 63 and visibly determined to make a case of his own, though the game was already settled by then.
Gabriel Jesus — 7.5. Seven minutes on the pitch and a goal on it, restoring the four-goal cushion and opening his Barça account against the very side he faced on his Champions League debut back in 2017.
Gavi — not rated. A brief run-out for Rodri on 83 minutes as Flick managed the closing stages.
One game, one win, five goals and a perfect start in Europe. The Blaugrana’s scoring rate is showing no sign of slowing.
