Marc Bartra Damages His Barcelona Chances with Poor Showing Against Chelsea

Chelsea beat Barcelona on penalties in the International Champions Cup, but it didn't matter. Luis Enrique wants the team to concentrate on improving, not the results of their pre-season games.

But what might matter is individual performance levels. The Barcelona coach will have seen Marc Bartra offering nothing to persuade him to give the centre-back a starting role in the new season.

Gerard Pique and Javier Mascherano were the central defensive partnership the treble was built on, and it looked hard for Bartra to crack even before Tuesday night's clash with Chelsea.

The 24-year-old was given an hour to impress against the English champions and instead was run ragged by Eden Hazard and Diego Costa.

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When Costa, not renowned for extreme pace, flew past him in a blur, making up ground and cutting across the defender, it was reminiscent of Gareth Bale doing the same to Bartra in the 2014 Copa del Rey final.

On that occasion, the Welshman held his nerve to finish past Jose Manuel Pinto, but Costa fluffed his lines here, dragging his shot wide of the far post.

Bartra had already been made to pay earlier on when Hazard opened the scoring for Jose Mourinho's side.

Having shown a clean pair of heels to Ivan Rakitic and ghosting past Douglas, Bartra stepped up to deal with Hazard. Unfortunately, the Belgian barely noticed the Spaniard's presence, composing himself and firing low past Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

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Rakitic and Douglas were also at fault for this goal; it's not just down to Bartra. But from the centre-back's perspective, he didn't do a good enough job here.

And having recently spoken of his determination to prove himself at Barcelona and earn more playing time, this was not the best start.

"I'm not listening to offers," Bartra said, per Sport. "My head is focused 100 per cent on Barcelona. My challenge is to beat the 21 games I started last season."

Unfortunately for Bartra, that's going to be a tricky task. First, because performing like he did against Chelsea will worry Luis Enrique.

For his part, the Barcelona coach will wonder if he should give Bartra more chances. Now, his own future has been decided, Enrique will be thinking about how to build for the club’s future as opposed to the here-and-now, let's-do-this nature of last season.

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Bartra could be an important figure in Barcelona sides over the next decade, but if he is, he needs more game time now as he starts moving toward his prime.

And second, because there's more competition.

Jeremy Mathieu will be fighting for a regular place in the side after dropping out of Lucho's favoured duo in the second half of the season.

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Thomas Vermaelen will also be going hell for leather as he makes up for lost time. The defender missed the entirety of last season, bar the final league game, through injury.

Now, he's fit, gaining minutes in these pre-season clashes and looking to state his case for a place in the side.

For the first time in years, Barcelona have plenty of options at centre-back, and that means performances like this, even in a noncompetitive game, can be damaging.