2 goals, 2 big chances created against Valencia — Homegrown Barcelona midfielder strengthens case over Olmo for starting spot | OneFootball

FC Barcelona faced Valencia in an important La Liga encounter. Having drawn their previous game 1-1 against Rayo Vallecano at Vallecas, it was important for Flick’s men to return to winning ways in their first home game of the season.

Coming into the game, there were many question marks over what kind of performance Hansi Flick’s side might produce, given the absence of some of their key players and the makeshift home stadium, the Estadi Johan Cruyff.

The answer was a resounding thumping of Valencia, with Barcelona running out 6-0 winners. Braces from Fermin Lopez, Raphinha, and Robert Lewandowski helped the Catalan club to victory on the night.

Fermin, in particular, had an excellent game last night, looking almost unstoppable in the #10 role. Stats from SofaScore showed that the Spaniard delivered an all-action display against Valencia, doing much more than just scoring those two goals.

The La Masia graduate played the entire game, with an xG of 0.24 and an xA of 0.46. He recorded 77 touches, completing 42 out of 47 passes at 89% accuracy. This included two key passes and 3 out of 4 attempted long passes.

Defensively, he was energetic, winning 5 out of 12 ground duels and 1 out of 2 aerial duels. He recorded 1 interception and 2 tackles. The only blip in an otherwise flawless display was that he lost the ball 19 times.

Four games into the new season, Flick has not yet settled on his first-choice #10, but if Fermin continues to bang down the door with such performances, it would not be a surprise to see him make the position his own ahead of Dani Olmo.

Barcelona have a big game against Newcastle United at St James’ Park in midweek, and one would think that Fermin has done enough to warrant a starting berth against the Magpies. If he can build on this performance and continue to improve, the sky is the limit for the Spaniard, and let us see how things play out on this front.