Barcelona rounded off a remarkable season with a comprehensive performance at San Mames on Sunday night, as they sought to finish their title-winning campaign in the best possible way.
Bouncing back from last week’s post-title-winning loss to Villarreal, the Catalans were the better team on the day and won by 3-0 courtesy of a first-half brace from Robert Lewandowski and a late Dani Olmo goal.
They finished with 38 matches and 88 points and were crowned champions, four points in front of Real Madrid.
Here are the Barcelona player ratings:
Inaki Pena: 7
The academy graduate made one last appearance as goalkeeper for Barcelona, showing to offer reliability in distribution but not significant saves to stop Athletic Club’s attempts against Barca.
Alejandro Balde: 7.5
Although making a rare start, the Spaniard gave dynamism on the left side of the pitch with good links to Raphinha. However, his transitional play and ball retention were slightly rusty.
Pau Cubarsi: 7.5
Brought calmness at the back for Barcelona during the season finale, Cubarsi contained Athletic Club’s early onslaught while managing counterattacks efficiently.
Ronald Araujo: 7
As captain, Araujo delivered a solid performance pushing 98% in the distribution phase with passing accuracy, only being dribbled past once, showcasing his progression in ball-playing.
Eric Garcia: 8
Garcia dealt well with the test of pace and flair against Nico Williams at right back keeping the Athletic Club winger contained for most of the match.
Gavi: 7.5
Playing in a double pivot with Pedri, Gavi was outstanding in vision, possession, and defensively shutting down Athletic Club’s counters, whilst dominating the midfield for Barcelona.
Pedri: 8.5
Pedri had his usual flawless performance, bringing calmness to Barcelona’s buildup after Athletic Club’s early pressure and controlling the game in the second half.
Fermin Lopez: 7.5
The young dynamo always gave the impression he was about to make the right run, assisting Lewandowski for the first, and driving straight at Unai Simon’s goal during the attack, showing tremendous attacking intent.
Lamine Yamal: 8
Yamal felt quieter tonight, unsurprisingly after a long season, but still did well to link with Lewandowski and contributed to moving the ball, though without overwhelming control.
Raphinha: 8
The Brazilian was relentless in attack and winning back possession, pushing things on with his speed in counter-attacks, and combining effectively with Lewandowski and Balde, but was not a real threat to score.
Robert Lewandowski: 9
With no shot at winning the Pichichi, the Polish striker was relentless, scoring twice within minutes of each other early in the game off the back of a well-timed pass from Fermin Lopez, to later miss on his hat-trick attempt during a one-on-one with Unai Simon.
Dani Olmo: 8
Coming on late and adding, Olmo earned and converted a penalty right at the end of stoppage time, clearly relishing the opportunity, and scoring Barcelona’s final goal of the season with confidence.
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