Athletic Bilbao 1-0 Barcelona: 5 men who were poor for the Blaugrana

#3 Jordi Alba

Jordi Alba (R) was ineffective both in attack and defence

The Spaniard was one of the best left-backs in the world last season, but there were areas of his game that still needed improvements. Jordi Alba can be extremely good on his day but has been known to go missing in games on a few occasions. However, there’s no doubt that he is an integral part of the Barcelona style of play and his partnership with Lionel Messi can break open even the meanest of defences.

Against Athletic Bilbao, though, Jordi Alba struggled to come to terms with the absence of his talismanic skipper. Alba was ineffective down the left flank and his performance on the night left a lot to be desired.

The Spaniard failed to strike an understanding with Antoine Griezmann and was mostly toothless in the final third. As a result, Barcelona lacked an added dimension in their attack and failed to create too many opportunities. Alba's defending was equally poor, as the opposition regularly ran past him and created chances down the left of Barcelona's defence.