Lyon 0-0 FC Barcelona: Hits and Flops | UEFA Champions League 2018-19

#2 Hit: Gerard Pique

Gerard Pique with his last-ditch effort to halt Moussa Dembele a clear path to the goal

Slow. Old. Finished. The three words that people so love to describe Gerard Pique with. He is certainly getting older, 32 now, but he has been called slow for his entire career and still manages to stay at the top-level. He is far from finished, given his recent performances for Barcelona.

If we are talking stats here are Gerard Pique's numbers from the game. 2 clearances, 1 shot blocked, 2 interceptions, 3 successful tackles out of 4, 6 out of 8 duels won. What better numbers do you need defensively? To put things into perspective, the numbers don't tell the whole story. Pique did whatever he could to help his team get an away goal by guarding the defense alone along with Lenglet. He did that with a Lyon side who boasted of the pace from Traore, Depay, Dembele, Ndombele, and Aouar too.

Whenever a counter-attack started to take shape, he halted it and put the ball back to his teammates. Maybe that's why he completed 49 passes with 86% success rate. He came clutch in moments where Barcelona could have conceded. His last ditch tackle on Moussa Dembele saved Barcelona from what certainly was a 1v1 situation.

His presence of mind against Depay, even after being exposed and certainly at a disadvantage for pace, was impressive. He didn't allow the Dutch breathing space while heading into the box and forced him to go wide, in the end, making it easy for Ter Stegen to save the cutback.