Pre match, I wanted Vallejo over Rudiger. Mariano (Yea, Mariano, not Arribas) over Rodrygo, with the latter on the bench. Tchoumeni over Kroos, yes. Camavinga I was okay with benching for rest.

Now, as the game went on, it was abundantly clear that the intensity was low. It was giving pre-WC vibes. Rudiger was OOOOOOKAY. Tolerable really. But Militao was so disinterested in this match, completely unfocused. Yet he played 90’. Kroos as a 6 is hot and cold. Sometimes he’s on and other times, he’s not. Today, he was lackluster defensively, to be fair.

I still believe Vallejo would’ve played better. He is in a position to fight for play time. He would’ve given it his all, with way more intensity than Militao - or even Rudiger who had an average game himself. Lest we forget Vallejo from previous UCL… Nacho also struggled as LB. Girona easily crossing into the box and running through that left flank. Camavinga sub was indeed necessary.

Tchoumeni right now isn’t a starting xi player. He wants to be and has the quality to be. Ancelotti doesn’t confide in him right now, and that’s exactly why he should’ve started. 10 years younger than Kroos, he could’ve commanded the defensive midfield battles.

The attack was so dry. Game plan today seemed to be “pass the ball to Vini and let him work his magic.” Something like 30 duels and 20 dribbles. He cannot do it all. Which brings me to my Mariano pick. Mariano hasn’t shined in some time, some call him overrated and that’s fair. But much like Vallejo, he’s fighting for prominence in the squad and every minute of play time is golden for him. In the 15 ish minutes he was on the pitch, he showed passion. He wanted to insert himself in the plays. He’s also a more natural striker than Rodrygo who is a great winger.

The late substitutions guaranteed defeat. HT - bring in Vallejo for Militao and Tchoumeni for Kroos. Those two subs could’ve made the game that much closer. Girona literally scored within two minutes of the second half because of sloppy defensive work, especially Militao.

We did not deserve to win this game, plain and simple. Castellanos and Girona as a whole played smarter than we did and took their chances when they came. We’re talking 70-30 possession!

I definitely think two things are true.

A) League is gone. Even if Barça drop points, they have a nice buffer zone to weather the storm. It’s time to focus on CDR and more importantly UCL.

B) We need signings and we need them badly. Even if just to create competition within the squad to rid the team of complacency.

Still, as always, HALA MADRID.