Lamine Yamal walked into the clash with Paris Saint-Germain carrying the weight of expectation. A dazzling start to the season had turned him into one of Barcelona's sharpest attacking weapons, and few doubted he would deliver again.
The Spanish teenager never hit those heights on the European stage. He did find the net, but his side still slipped to a 4-2 defeat.
French newspaper L'Equipe pulled no punches on what they saw as a disappointing night. Yamal looked well short of his usual level, particularly in the first half, and found himself in real trouble during his direct duel with French defender Lucas Hernandez.
Many had tipped him to be one of the standout performers. His blistering start to the campaign, packed with dribbling and the kind of individual moments that break a game open, fuelled the hype. Against the Parisians, those qualities simply never surfaced.
A goal that does not erase the struggle
Yamal did strike Barcelona's second in the 79th minute. Even so, according to L'Equipe, he failed to produce anything close to a great display, with the goal doing little to shift the overall picture given the problems he ran into against the PSG defence.
Lucas Hernandez snuffed out the young winger's threat in the one-on-ones. Yamal was left chasing his usual tricks, unable to stamp his authority on the contest, especially before the break.
A bet that did not pay off
Every eye had been on Yamal from the warm-ups, L'Equipe noted, after he scored a superb goal in Barcelona's 5-2 win over Real Betis in the Spanish league on Saturday. That strike only cranked up the belief that another special performance was coming against Paris Saint-Germain.
It never arrived. A night that promised to showcase his brilliance instead became a stern examination, one he failed against an opponent who smothered his menace, as Barcelona went down 4-2 in the Champions League.