Tuesday’s Champions League saw Barcelona held to a stalemate by Slavia Prague at the Camp Nou and this has further increased pressure on head coach, Ernesto Valverde.
Barcelona had earlier been stunned 3-1 by Levante at the weekend in La Liga and today’s game didn’t offer much encouragements to the fans.
Lionel Messi had several chances to to score but was denied by the post in the 35th minute and Ondrej Kolar who was in top form in the Slavia goal.
His performance in goal kept his team in the game and ensured they secured a point they worked hard for. Although remain top of their group with eight points from four games, they still have much work to do.
Early in the game, Barca’s defence was cut open but ter Stegen was alert at the near post to deny Petr Sevcik’s deflected pull back.
Nelson Semedo had a chance to put the ball in the back of the net when he found himself one-on-one at the other end but was denied by a smart save from Kolar who impressed all through.
Messi’s freekick was punched away by Kolar and moments later, Messi’s shot rattled the crossbar, shooting from the edge of the area after he was afforded far too much space from the right.
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Kolar was on hand to thwart Messi again, this time at the near post following fine work from Arturo Vidal, and the Slavia goalie produced a fine stop to prevent Pique’s header from finding the back of the net from the subsequent corner.
Slavia thought they had broken the deadlock when Jan Boril had the ball in the back of the net in first-half stoppage time, but he was correctly ruled offside.
10 minutes into the second half, it was the turn of Sergi Roberto to test Kolar but the goalkeeper was a match for him.
Barca had a goal ruled offside as well when Messi teed up Vidal to slide the ball home, but the former had strayed offside when latching on to a Frenkie de Jong’s pass.
Slavia were able to see out the rest of the game despite Barca’s best efforts to get a goal as Kolar denied Ansu Fati from close range.
With this draw, more questions await Valverde and he must find ways to answer them as quickly as possible.
Barca turn their attention to their next league match with Celta Vigo who are third-bottom of the table. Slavia take on Teplice at the weekend before their next Champions League assignment later this month.
