La Liga 2017/18: Barcelona 3-0 Las Palmas, 5 talking points

#2 Paulinho starts, again

Paulinho has started 3 Liga games this season

For the 3rd time this campaign, the Brazilian midfielder started for Barcelona. While the 29-year old started, Ivan Rakiti?, Andrés Iniesta and Andre Gomes all sat on the bench clearly bemused at the decision. Paulinho has put in stellar performances over the past few weeks, but they weren’t good enough to bench some of the best CMs in the world.

Ernesto Valverde realised his mistake at halftime and took off the 29-year old for Ivan Rakiti?. He also brought on Andrés Iniesta for Alex Vidal. The game changed after these substitutions and Barcelona fully took control of affairs.

Rakiti? and Iniesta provided Barcelona with creativity in the middle, allowing Messi to freely roam as he pleased. In his 45 minute cameo, Paulinho won no aerials, misplaced 2 passes, created 0 chances and lost out on 50% of his tackles.