Ousmane Dembele 90th minute strike kept Barcelona top of La Liga but it was more than they deserved in a 1-1 draw with Atletico Madrid on Saturday, in which they found themselves impotent to influence the game.
The club’s slow retreat from Pep Guardiola-era dominant football has been well documented but in a match against opponents as bloody-minded as Diego Simeone’s Atletico, Barca’s struggles were brightly highlighted.
Atletico Madrid didn’t want to play football and were content to wait for their spot, Barcelona wanted to but simply couldn’t work out how.
It led to a strange and dour first half in which there were 15 fouls and no shots on target. In fact, it was the first La Liga game of the season where neither side forced a save in the first half.
This was also the game where the fewest shots were attempted in an opening period, a grand total of two.
The only talking point was Sergi Roberto suffering an injury just before the interval, with Rafinha Alcantara replacing him in the second half.
That was another sign that Barcelona are no longer capable of forcing sides with the quality of Atletico Madrid to play their game.
If Ernesto Valverde felt bold, if the coach felt like his men could dictate the play, he might have opted to bring on winger Dembele.
Getty ImagesThe French World Cup winner comes with his own bag of problems but unlike Rafinha, has the sheer talent and unpredictability to break down a rock-solid wall like Atletico’s.
We saw that in the final stages when Valverde threw on Dembele looking for an answer to Diego Costa’’s 77th minute header which threatened to depose his side from the top of the table.
Costa’s goal broke the mould of the game and led to 13 minutes of chaos after 77 in which Barcelona were unable to break clear of Atletico’s shackles.
The Rojiblancos have played like this for most of the last decade under Simeone and have never beaten Barcelona in La Liga, often seeking a draw and hoping to snatch a goal via a set piece, so it should not have been a surprise for Barcelona.
And yet Valverde could do nothing to free Lionel Messi who, bar the odd flash, was rendered invisible, or even get Jordi Alba on the ball at speed against Santiago Arias.
At times you wondered if Barca’s coach was willing to accept the draw, given Real Madrid lost at Eibar earlier and his team were away from home.
But if so, it does not fit the club’s philosophy and style and will only turn those who already disapprove of him further away.
Perhaps Valverde doesn’t care. The coach has not renewed his contract, which expires at the end of the season, and may only be thinking about immediate success.
If that’s the case then a draw at Atletico Madrid is an acceptable result, even if the style it was achieved in would upset the majority of Barcelona fans.