FC Barcelona 2-0 Espanyol: Hits and Flops | LaLiga 2018-19

#2 Hit: Clement Lenglet

A criminally underrated defender: Clement Lenglet

A 35 million bargain? When Barcelona paid Sevilla this price for Lenglet, most of the football fraternity was not very fond of it. Lenglet was playing at Sevilla but he didn't have the status of a world-class player that de Ligt or Kimpembe possessed and people expected the Blaugrana to chase.

When Samuel Umtiti's injury crisis struck the Blaugrana, they needed their 35-million-buy to step up and boy has he stepped up. Lenglet is performing up to a standard where it is impossible to bench him, not even for Samuel Umtiti. He has been making such a strong case for playing in the French National team as well.

Lenglet was amazing against Espanyol yesterday alongside Gerard Pique. He denied at least two direct goal threats, one in the first half and another one in the second. In the first half, he made a last-man tackle on Borja Iglesias to deflect the ball away from him. In the second half, he made the perfect sliding interception from a cutback before the ball reaches Wu Lei and cleared the danger.

Want to know the pass success for Lenglet? 93%, with 53/57 passes made. He also helped to push the defensive lineup and completed a neat dribble too. We need to look at Didier Deschamps' next excuse for not calling Lenglet up just as he has been giving for Laporte's exclusion.