Barca tried to land Garcia in the summer but couldn’t agree a fee with Manchester City even though the defender has made it clear he doesn’t want to sign a new contract at the club.
Manager Ronald Koeman has already admitted Barca want Garcia back, and the report reckons that Barca will try to make the deal happen despite their financial difficulties.
Barca’s lack of options in central defence has been highlighted this season with Koeman opting to move Frenkie de Jong into the backline from midfield in the last two games.
Ronald Araujo is currently out injured leaving Barca short of options, although Samuel Umtiti is back in training and closing in on a return to fitness.
Barca will be in a pretty strong position to land Garcia in the January transfer window, with the defender available on a free next summer if he doesn’t move in the winter.
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No goals at the Estadi Johan Cruyff
Ronald Koeman was in attendance as Barcelona B were held to a goalless draw by Prat on Sunday at the Estadi Johan Cruyff,
The Barcelona boss, who also watched the team in action in their opening game against Nastic, was spotted in the stands as Francisco Javier García Pimienta’s team returned to action.
Inaki Pena, Santiago Ramos Mingos, Konrad de la Fuente and Ilaix Moriba all started for the hosts, while Oriol Busquets captained the side on Sunday. Barca were back after last weekend’s clash with Olot had to be postponed due to Covid-19.
Barca B were already without several players due to injury and lost right-back Andrés Solano to injury early on in the game. Things then got even worse when his replacement Igor Gomez was forced off less than 20 minutes later.
After a goalless first half García Pimienta went in for a Koemanesque triple substitution and brought on Matheus Pereira, Hiroki Abe and Joaquin Zeballos. Matheus set up Abe for a great chance but the winger put his shot straight at the goalkeeper.
Abe then teed up Konrad for another good opportunity but again it was wasted and Barca B were forced to settle for the draw. With better finishing García Pimienta’s men might just have nicked all three points, and Koeman will know exactly how that feels.
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Quique Setien has opened up on his time at Barcelona and in particular what it’s like to manage captain Lionel Messi.
The 62-year-old, who was fired after just seven months in the job, explained he found it difficult to coach the Argentinat international at the Camp Nou.
“I think Messi is the best of all time. There have been other great players who have been great, but the continuity that this boy has had throughout the years has not been had by anyone.
“Leo is difficult to manage. Who am I to change him! If they have accepted him as he is for years and have not changed him.
“There’s another facet beyond just the player and it’s more difficult to manage. Much more difficult. It’s something inherent in many athletes that can be seen in the Michael Jordan documentary (“The Last Dance”). You see things you don’t expect.
“He’s very reserved but he makes you see the things that he wants. He doesn’t talk much.”
Setien also said in the interview that he felt he wasn’t able to be himself during his brief spell in charge and added that in hindsight “at certain times I should have made other decisions.”
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Barcelona gifted Alaves the lead on Saturday with a poor error from Neto after a bit of a mix-up with Gerard Pique.
It wasn’t the best pass in the world from the center-back, but there’s no doubt at all that Neto should have done much better than he did.
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Instead he dithered which allow Luis Rioja to open the scoring against the run of play and made Barca’s task far harder then it needed to be.
It’s a tough break for Neto who has been excellent so far this season while standing in for Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Yet it could be his last apperance for a while with the German closing in on a return to action.
Griezmann finally off the mark
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Antoine Griezmann’s form has come under plenty of scrutiny this season, but the Frenchman is finally off the mark for Barcelona.
It was a decent finish from the Frenchman too to level the scores. He pounced on a loose ball and beat Pacheco with a neat chip over the goalkeeper.
It was a much-needed goal for Griezmann who has looked unsurprisingly short of confidence due to his lack of goals and having been left out of team by Koeman.
Griezmann admitted after the game he’s been guilty of missing chances, along with the rest of the team, and Barca will hope his latest strike can spark an improvement.
Pedri and Pjanic make a difference
Ronald Koeman was so unhappy with his team at half-time that he hauled off Clement Lenglet, Sergio Buquets and Ousmane Dembele, bringing on Miralem Pjanic, Pedri and Francisco Trincao.
Barca certainly improved in the second half, although the man advantage also helped, with Miralem Pjanic looking a far better option than Busquets in the middle of the park for Koeman’s men currently.
Busquets produced another careless performance and it was no surprise to see him benched at half-time. Koeman must surely be tempted to keep him there on current form.
Pedri was also bright and Barca seem to pass the ball so much better when the 17-year-old is on the pitch. All of which gives Koeman plenty to ponder ahead of next week’s games against Dynamo Kiev and Real Betis.
Time to rest Messi?
One of the decisions Koeman needs to make is surely to hand Messi some rest sooner rather than later. The captain has played every single minute for club and country this season and it’s starting to show.
The captain still hasn’t scored from open play in 2020-21, although he seemed to do everything but score against Alaves, and would have nicked it late on if it hadn’t been for a fine save from Pacheco.
Lionel Messi's game by numbers vs. Alaves:
107 touches
100% aerials won
13 take-ons completed
13 touches in opp. box
10 shots
5 shots on target
4 chances created
3 fouls won
Yet Messi’s frustrations were also on show. He was left fuming after a foul near the edge of the box wasn’t given and picked up a yellow card for booting the ball away when he was very close to the referee.
Barca play two more games before the next international break when Messi is due to head off with Argentina again for World Cup qualifiers against Paraguay and Peru. Surely he won’t play all 90 minutes against Kiev and Betis?
Koeman’s right to worry
Koeman admitted after the game that he’s “worried” by Barcelona’s form and he’s right to be concerned. It’s Barcelona’s worst start to the season for almost 20 years, and Koeman knows better than most that this is a result-based business.
There’s also plenty going on behind the scenes since Josep Maria Bartomeu’s resignation, with presidential candidates already talking up their preferred managers.
Barcelona have now not won any of their last four LaLiga games for the first time in over two years.
Another gameweek in the bottom half of the table for Ronald Koeman's Barca. https://t.co/ygkeR2P3xE
For the time being the job remains Koeman’s and he knows his team needs to improve. In truth they were a little unfortunate against Alaves, but their inability to convert chances is starting to become a recurring theme.
There are also questions marks over Koeman too with fans wondering if he’ll ever deviate from his beloved 4-2-3-1 and quite why Riqui Puig can’t even make the squad these days.
The news season is only a few weeks old but, rightly or wrongly, Koeman will be feeling the pressure already after collecting just two points from the last 12 available.
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Presidential candidate Jordi Farre says he’d be happy for Lionel Messi to play at Newell’s Old Boys for a year and then return to Barcelona to finish his career.
Ansu Fati says it is a “thrill” to be nominated for the 2020 Golden Boy Award but adds he will keep working hard so “nice things like this continue to happen.”
Barcelona could reportedly face bankruptcy amid growing issues over salary cuts. The club are said to need to reduce their wage bill by a massive 30 percent by November 5.
Gerard Pique made his 550th Barcelona appearance on Saturday, overtaking the legendary Migueli on the all-time appearance list and moving into sixth place.
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Where do you even start after what can only be politely described as a disjointed showing at Alaves...
Let’s begin with Sergio Busquets. There is absolutely no doubt whatsoever now that Busi should not be first choice in the midfield.
We got rid of Ivan Rakitic and Arturo Vidal because they were supposedly no longer of sufficient standard to wear the shirt. Busquets isn’t quite there yet, but he’s getting close.
The old guard can no longer be cosseted by the club because of their glory days. If they’re not doing the business, either haul them off or don’t start them in the first place. That applies to Lionel Messi, Gerard Pique and Jordi Alba too.
We are in the business of football success, not the business of keeping under-performing employees happy at any cost.
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Busi’s performance was, frankly, embarrassing and if Koeman can’t see that, then maybe we’ve a problem on the bench too.
That’s no league wins in four now, for the first time in two years, and our worst start since 2002 when another Dutchman, Louis van Gaal, was at the helm.
Koeman deserves kudos for the way in which he has been rotating and also allowing most of the youngsters - with the notable exception of Riqui Puig - to get game time, however, the need to play a 4-2-3-1 religiously is beginning to look like the manager doesn’t have a clue as to how to implement other formations, when they could prove decisive.
Messi certainly cut a frustrated figure in Vitoria and was lucky to still be on the pitch after aiming the ball at the referee.
The No.10 incredibly still hasn’t scored from open play this season, (though he did come close on Saturday), which suggests that the system isn’t working for him either.
Whilst it’s refreshing to move away from ‘Messi-dependence,’ we still need to recognise that Barca are at their best when the captain oils the wheels.
Photo by Juan Manuel Serrano Arce/Getty Images
On another night, with Lady Luck on our side, we may have scored five or six and the frustration was that the aims of our strikers weren’t true enough despite Alaves being down to 10 men for half an hour. That and an outstanding performance from Pacheco in goal - unlike Neto’s disasterclass.
All of the above said, let’s end on a positive note. Antoine Griezmann showed enough last night to prove he’s worth sticking with. He is the hardest working of the front line at the present time, with little reward to show for it.
If a suitable system can be found which plays to his strengths, he has the nous to be a hugely important player for the club.
Barca just have to stop trying to shoehorn him into a role that doesn’t suit him in order to accommodate others.
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The midfielder was not happy after the draw at Alaves
Frenkie de Jong was a pretty dejected figure after Barcelona dropped points yet again in Saturday’s draw at Alaves.
The Dutchman spoke after the draw and admitted these are the types of games his team need to be winning this season.
De Jong also offered his thoughts on a possible penalty claim in the first half when he seemed to be pushed over while going up for a header in the penalty area.
“I don’t know if it was a penalty but yes we need to win these games. I thought that someone was pushing me from behind.
“I couldn’t see but it felt like that. In the second half we were pressing them a lot, we created a lot of chances, I don’t know, we were a bit unlucky.
The 23-year-old was making his 50th appearance for Barca and started off in midfield before once again playing the second half in defence after Clement Lenglet was one of three half-time substitutions.
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