Barcelona were held to a goalless draw by bottom side SD Huesca in matchweek 32 of the 2018-19 La Liga on Saturday afternoon.
With the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie against Manchester United only a couple of days away, Barcelona manager Ernesto Valverde decided to rotate his side heavily. Goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen was the only player retained from the 1-0 midweek win over the Red Devils, with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Gerard Pique all absent.
Ousmane Dembele and Jeison Murillo came close to opening the scoreline for Barcelona in the first half, but were denied by some fine goalkeeping from Huesca’s Roberto Santamaria. Early in the second half, the home team threatened to break the deadlock, but ter Stegen reacted well to keep Enric Gallego out, before Barcelona’s Malcom had a shot bounce off the woodwork.
Both teams pressed hard in search of a breakthrough as the game wore on, but weren’t unable to find a way through and ended up sharing the spoils. Naturally the fans had a lot to say about the game and the team selection in particular and they took to Twitter to express their views.
Barcelona should stop wasting points
— Hayor? (@LukumanRowaye) April 13, 2019
the best moment of the match was in the 94th minute when the ref blew the whistle and put me out of my misery
— Machadiocese (@alldayjandro) April 13, 2019
Hardest questions I’ve ever encountered.
— ABHIYAN (@abhi_pkh) April 13, 2019
I’m agree with your point about players but what was the rational behind using 3 CB and no LB ?? why did we need 3 center back against the last team in the table and as we saw at the end he even brought Alba in to have 5 in defense
— lxsameer (@lxsameer) April 13, 2019
Huesca 0-0 Barcelona: Ernesto Valverde rests ENTIRE outfield team for bore draw at lowly Huesca as Barcelona boss prioritises Champions League clash with Manchester United on Tuesday pic.twitter.com/ZoBUQ8ogA7
— Lilian Chan (@bestgug) April 13, 2019
Most fans seemed to be of the opinion that without captain and star man Lionel Messi, the Catalans are never able to get a positive result.
im gonna cry so much when messi r*tires pic.twitter.com/8EAxU8mnki
— uswnt semi-fan (@morganmessiah) April 13, 2019
Barcelona thrashed Huesca by 8 goals because Messi played… Without Messi they’re 87 minutes without a goal. I wonder how post Barca without Messi will look like
— Prophet Chijioke. (@ProphetChijioke) April 13, 2019
Velverde can’t win against Huesca without Messi. And we expect him to win the Champions League. Never gonna happen. #Barca
— Amitesh Kumar (@AmiteshKm) April 13, 2019
F.C Barcelona could not beat Huesca because Messi and the rest did not play ??♂️??♂️
— Jamal Indimi (@beesammy) April 13, 2019
#KaizerChiefs just played a boring draw. #Barcelona also played a boring draw without Messi and Suarez. My last hope is in Manchester United to win this one. I cant afford to be disappointed by all my teams.#SSDiski#MUNWHU#LaLigapic.twitter.com/f4Cnhlr7yd
— Saaz Saida??? (@MaximumRSA) April 13, 2019
Kevin Prince-Boateng was handed a rare start in the absence of Luis Suarez, who was suspended for the tie. But, the Ghanaian failed to make much of an impression, drawing a lot of ire from the fans.
Will probably struggle to even reach five appearances but that’s enough to establish Boateng as one of the worst players I’ve seen in a Barcelona shirt.
— Marcus (@MarcusBr22) April 13, 2019
Boateng is shockingly average…
— Rafael Hernández (@RafaelH117) April 13, 2019
Boateng the worst signing ever??
— Nüel Weinchard (@NuelWeinchard) April 13, 2019
Boateng looks like a fan, that’s won a competition to play with the team.
— S. Jakobsen (@S_Jakobsen) April 13, 2019
We couldve won this game if boateng was a football player.
— FinallyArthur (@cruyff90) April 13, 2019
How in God’s name did we sign Boateng
— Blue-G (@Bluegrenades) April 13, 2019
Looking forward to the club’s public apology for the Boateng signing…
— totalBarça (@totalBarca) April 13, 2019