When the final whistle blew, Marc Casado dropped to the ground, clearly in pain. Barcelona had just lost their Champions League opener against Monaco 2-1, but the young midfielder had given everything.
Barca got off to a bad start in the new edition of Europe’s elite club competition. The early season optimism after five victories from their first five games in La Liga was somewhat diminished by a drab defeat that was defined by the sending off of Eric Garcia in the 10th minute.
It was a first defeat in official competition for new manager Hansi Flick — against the same opponents that beat them (3-0) in Barca’s traditional season-opening Joan Gamper Trophy friendly back in early August. Casado’s display was one of the few positives.
The versatile 21-year-old is making the most of the opportunity afforded by multiple absentees in Barca’s midfield — Marc Bernal, Frenkie de Jong, Gavi and Dani Olmo are all injured. With Olmo’s injury the most recent, the question before Thursday night’s match was how Flick would further adjust. His solution was to put Casado and Eric Garcia at the base and leave Pedri free further forward.
But a bad pass from Marc-Andre ter Stegen changed everything. His ball to Garcia on the edge of his box was intercepted by Takumi Minamino. In his split-second response, Garcia (who was not playing in his natural position of centre-back) brought down the Japanese and was shown a red card.
Playing 80 minutes a player down was tough for Barca and for the midfielders especially. Pedri had to move back into a deeper position, and although he played with intensity, he did not have his best game.
But in some phases of the second half, it was hard to notice the deficit. One of the keys was Casado. In the face of adversity he stepped up — and despite his relative inexperience at this level (this was his first Champions League start and only his fourth appearance in the competition) he looked like a veteran.
He showed character to step towards a difficult situation and gave his all until the end, looking like a captain only without the armband. He took the initiative at the base of midfield and always offered himself to give pause to the team and help create with calmness, playing out from the back.
After Ter Stegen, he was the Barca player who made the most touches, with 65. His solid passing and confidence set the tempo for his team-mates — along with Lamine Yamal, who he set up for Barca’s goal to make it 1-1, another brilliant strike from the 17-year-old that spurred his side on, his first in the Champions League.
It was Casado’s second assist in two matches, following his brilliant pass for Pedri in Sunday’s 4-1 victory at Girona. But Casado is a player who has already convinced Flick of his qualities. Club sources (who preferred to speak anonymously to protect their position) say the German was immediately won over after arriving this summer, and that he sees in his profile a player similar to Joshua Kimmich, who he managed at Bayern Munich.
Last season, Casado played for Barca’s reserve team Barcelona Atletic (who are on Spain’s third tier) as both a defensive midfielder and a right-back. During pre-season he featured as a double pivot with Bernal, but when the new season arrived Flick went for only one pivot and the very promising Bernal (who has since suffered an anterior cruciate ligament injury) was chosen to start.
Still, Casado has peace of mind that the German coach rates him highly. He did not have such confidence under Xavi. Before this season he had only played 58 minutes for the first team.
“We have players that today gave more than 100 per cent and Casado was one of them,” Flick said in his post-match press conference. “Yamal and Raphinha also did the same. I’m really proud of this team, but we have to accept how we lost today. We have seven more matches (to come in the Champions League’s new league phase).”
Casado finished the match limping. Maybe it was from overexertion, maybe it was from a blow in a challenge, or maybe it was simply because he was totally shattered. It wasn’t for nothing.
As team-mates helped him stretch, Flick rushed onto the field to see what was wrong as quickly as he could when the referee whistled the end of the match. He found him lying there with signs of pain and chatted with him.
“He’s fine, he just took a knock,” Flick said.
Barcelona were defeated but Casado came out of this match stronger, while more and more critical voices are being heard in Barcelona of Ter Stegen. For the first time, his performances have aroused skepticism among fans who, until now, considered him to be the ideal goalkeeper for Barcelona.
(Top photo: Chris Ricco – UEFA/UEFA via Getty Images)
