Rating the Barcelona Players Against Levante

La Liga is back. And how.

Although we've had the distraction of the Confederations Cup and a pretty disastrous transfer window to keep us entertained throughout the summer, nothing quite beats the weekly fix of a La Liga campaign.

Barcelona tore apart Levante at Camp Nou tonight in Gerardo Martino's first game of any note.

The manager sprang a surprise by leaving Neymar and Andres Iniesta on the bench but, as expected, his first lineup was far too strong for the visitors, who didn't work Victor Valdes until injury time.

Let's take a brief look at each Barcelona player's performance, rated using the table below.

1—Absolutely awful

2—No production whatsoever

3—Very little production

4—Worse than average

5—Average performance

6—Above average

7—Good production

8—Very high production

9—Nearly perfect performance

10—Absolute perfection

Goalkeeper and Defence

Victor Valdes 5/10

There can't have been too many games where Victor Valdes has had so little to do. Indeed, his first save came in injury time at the end of the match.

When called upon, his kicking was sharp and accurate.

Dani Alves 6/10

Dani Alves started off the match wastefully, overrunning the ball on a couple of occasions in the first 20 minutes. Great interplay with Cesc Fabregas saw him in the right place to slot in his goal on 23 minutes.

He was generally sound for much of the match and even found himself patrolling the centre forward position as we entered injury time.

Gerard Pique 6/10

In truth, Gerard Pique was hardly troubled for the entirety of the game. He was equal to any high balls into the box and as with a number of the Barca players. His only issue was to keep focus and concentration for the full 90 minutes. He was unlucky with a couple of goalscoring chances towards the hour mark.

Javier Mascherano 6/10

Mascherano was composed on the ball for much of the game and made most of his tackles successfully. He started the second half a little wayward, out of position on a couple of occasions and allowed Barral to get across him far too easily at the near post to get in a header on 50 minutes.

Adriano 5/10

That there is nothing of note to report on Adriano tells you much about how little impact he had on the game as a whole. He did nothing wrong other than being a little clumsy on Navarro on 38 minutes, though defended well when required,  and worked hard for the team and kept any attacking foray down his side of the pitch to a minimum.

Midfield

Sergio Busquets - 7/10

Busquets was always available to receive and then play the ball. He did his usual fair share of "donkey" work and was more than equal to any Levante threat through the middle of the pitch. He also supplemented the more creative midfielders well and the conduit from defence to attack.

Xavi Hernandez - 8/10 

This was an ideal game for Xavi Hernandez as he allowed far to much time on the ball he dictated play along with Cesc Fabregas. He should've done better when set up by Messi early on, but was leaning back as he skied the ball well over. He used the ball intelligently and routinely switched play and took his goal well and could've had another with a free kick which was well-saved.

Cesc Fabregas - 9/10 Man of the Match

Stunning performance from Fabregas. On this sort of form, it's no wonder that Manchester United want him to run their midfield, which is exactly what he did today. Sublime passing and vision were a feature of his play—witness his flick to Neymar on 85 minutes by way of example. He was also involved in setting up a number of goals. This was a peerless performance.

Strikers

Alexis Sanchez 8/10

A great game from the Chilean, who worked hard right from the off until his eventual substitution. His goal opened the floodgates and he linked well throughout.

He constantly pressed the backline when not in possession. He should be pleased with his contribution.

Lionel Messi 8/10

Taken off before he would've completed an opening day hat trick, Lionel Messi was straight into the groove.

Short, sharp pass and move, he was everywhere and his industry was never better evidenced than when he chased down Navarro in the 22nd minute to win back the ball.

He took his first goal well and rifled his penalty home, though was unlucky with a couple of other chances, including a typical run on the hour which ended with a shot that was unusually tame by his standards.

Pedro Rodriguez 8/10

As with both of the other strikers, Pedro worked hard and closed down when possible.

Gerardo Martino had promised Barcelona would get back to the pressing game of the Pep Guardiola era, and you could clearly see this at work.

Two goals will have done his confidence the world of good, and he had other chances to complete his hat-trick. Another who will be more than happy with his nights work.

Substitutes

Neymar (for Alexis 63 mins) 6/10

The game was won long before Barcelona's new star made his La Liga bow. Neymar still had almost half an hour within which to showcase a talent we will see much more of in the coming months.

He showed blistering pace from a standing start as he went past opponents as though they weren't there, and his maturity with incisive passing to colleagues rather than trying to take on defenders who would routinely "double-up" on him.

He was crowded out every time an opportunity to score presented itself.

Andres Iniesta (for Messi 70 mins) 6/10

Another surprise from Martino was leaving Andres Iniesta on the bench to allow him extra recovery from his midweek exertions.

As with many others, he was well drilled in keeping Levante pushed back into their own half and showed a couple of brief glimpses of his repertoire of skills.

Cristian Tello (for Pedro 76 mins) 5/10

With only a quarter of an hour to impress, Tello didn't really have much opportunity to get into the game.

A few short balls and brief sprints aside, there was little to judge him on.