Memphis, Champions Challenge

After qualifying the Netherlands for the World Cup and solving the match against Espanyol provoking the penalty that he converted himself, Memphis Depay has a third challenge in less than a week: the Champions League. If in the League his performance is being optimal (seven goals that have meant seven points), the Dutchman has been choked up in the Champions League so far. He has not scored a goal in the previous four games and in fact created very few options.

Very short as it is for strikers, Memphis is one of Barça’s few hopes of a goal with a view to the game against Benfica. It cannot be denied that the Dutchman is showing his face. He has already played 2,145 minutes so far this season (he has only lost 15 ‘in the entire course) and fights for the entire attack front. Of course, the big games have swallowed him up. He was seen very little in the Wanda against Atlético and disappointed in the Classical, although he had a good opportunity with the presence of Ansu to open spaces and the absence of Carvajal in the whites. The days of Champions have also been dark. Against Bayern he had almost no goal options and against Benfica he was as denied as Luuk de Jong. Not even against Dynamo Kiev he managed to score. In fact, and on top of his bad fortune, he prevented a goal sung in Kiev after a header from Nico that slipped in and the Dutchman unintentionally deflected.

The game against Benfica is not only important for Barça at an institutional level, for sporting prestige, or for its battered economy. It is also the case for the players, who have their biggest showcase to the world in the Champions League and run the risk of being out at the first exchange rate if the Portuguese surprise in Barcelona. It is a big day and for Memphis, who is supposed to be escorted by Gavi on the one hand and Dest or Coutinho on the other depending on the evolution of the American and Xavi’s idea of ​​a game, the opportunity to claim that he has enough talent to be one of the leaders of Barça.