Granada 2-0 Barcelona: 3 players who disappointed for the Catalan giants | La Liga 2019-2020

One of the most shocking results in La Liga history saw newly promoted Granada beat Barcelona 2-0 at the Estadio Nuevo Los Carmenes to go top of the table.

By contrast, Barcelona are currently seventh in the standings and could drop further down upon conclusion of gameweek 5, in what has been their worst start to a league campaign since 1994-1995.

There were numerous reasons as to why Barcelona suffered the humiliating defeat, but the chief rationale is that most of their highly paid and top quality players did not perform at the levels expected of them.

In this piece, we shall be taking a look at three players who were the most disappointing for Barcelona in their defeat to Granada.

#3 Carles Perez

Perez has faltered in recent weeks

After starring with Barcelona B over the last few years, Spain Under-21 international Carles Perez made his first team bow towards the tail end of last season.

The 21-year-old was included in Barcelona's pre-season tour, and he impressed significantly, weighing in with a number of goals to lay a serious claim to being fully integrated into the first team picture.

Unfortunate injuries to Barcelona's main first team attackers right at the start of the season offered Perez a chance, and he took it, opening his official goalscoring account in the 5-2 victory against Real Betis.

He further starred with an assist in the 2-2 draw with Osasuna, but spurned a late chance to win all three points, with his decision making letting him down at the final moment.

Since then, Perez has been below par, and has been overtaken by Ansu Fati as Barcelona's go-to attacker after the front three.

He was once again handed a start against Granada, but he failed to do anything of note in the first half, and was nothing more than a spectator in what was a shambolic display from the defending La Liga champions.

Perez dd not register a single shot on goal in the match, while he completed just 72.2% of his 18 attempted passes and was dispossessed on two occasions, before he was deservedly taken off at half-time.

With Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez back to full fitness, Perez would be back on the peripheries. He should have done more with his chance in the spotlight, and nowhere was this more evident than in the game against Granada.

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#2 Junior Firpo

Firpo made an error leading to Granada's opener

Junior Firpo was handed his first start in a Barcelona shirt against Granada, owing to the injury sustained by Jordi Alba.

Given the ultra-dependability of the 30-year-old, Firpo has to put in good shifts during his senior colleague's time on the sidelines to force his manager into seriously thinking about making him his first choice left-back.

His night got off to the worst possible start, as he made two errors inside the first minute of the game that directly led to Granada's opener.

From then on, it was a less than assured display from Firpo, with the Spain youth international looking nothing like the assured full-back that tore Barcelona to shreds last season.

He failed to offer any meaningful attacking contribution down Barcelona's left flank, and it came as no surprise when he was brought off during the break.

Given Firpo's performance, Valverde would be hoping that Alba recovers quickly. However, Firpo has a chance to rewrite the wrongs when Barcelona host Villareal on Tuesday.

#1 Antoine Griezmann

Granada CF v FC Barcelona - La Liga

In Antoine Griezmann's six competitive fixtures for Barcelona till date, four have come away from home, while two have been at the Camp Nou.

In those two games at Barcelona's mythical stadium, the French international shone like a million stars, and marked his Camp Nou debut with a brace and assist in a 5-2 trashing of Real Betis.

However, in contrasting scenes, the World Cup winner has been a passenger in all of Barcelona's four away fixtures till date.

His worst display arguably came in the game against Granada, and although his strike partner Perez was taken off during the interval, it could well have been Barcelona's €120m man hauled off instead; it was that bad.

Griezmann had just one shot in the game and failed to hit the target with it, while he was dispossessed once and had three poor first controls in the game.

Given the huge amount expended to get him, the Barcelona fans are within their right to demand a lot from Griezmann, and the earlier the former Atletico Madrid man starts delivering, the better for all parties involved.