Barcelona vs. Deportivo La Coruna: Winners and Losers from La Liga
Barcelona drew a second successive game in La Liga as they let a two-goal lead slip and only managed a 2-2 draw at home against Deportivo La Coruna on Saturday.
A game of plenty of mistakes was sparked into life with Leo Messi's curling free-kick for the first goal, before Ivan Rakitic hammered in a second after the break. What looked like a routine win was lost thanks largely to Barcelona's poor concentration in defence, with Lucas Perez and Alex Bergantinos scoring quickfire goals for Depor late to rescue a point.
Here are all our winners and losers from the match at Camp Nou.
Winner: Lionel Messi
1 of 5
It's an obvious pick, but in an inconsistent and at-times disjointed first half for Barcelona, Lionel Messi was one of the standouts with his ability to manoeuvre the ball comfortably and beat a man with agility and pace.
His free-kick found the top corner to open up the game at a time when his side were struggling to put successive passes together in the middle and final thirds, and he continued his recent scoring streak since returning from injury as a result.
Nobody will remember this as a defining match in Messi's career by any means, but the sloppiness of his team-mates was not reflected in Messi's display as he continued to carve out chances for his team-mates and looked very close to full sharpness.
Loser: Jonathan
2 of 5
Deportivo's main scoring threat in recent weeks has been Lucas Perez—so it was disappointing, or unfortunate at least, that their best chances at 0-0 fell to their other striker, Jonathan.
A great chance to beat Barcelona keeper Claudio Bravo early on was squandered as Jonathan took an uncertain first touch, while he also had a backpass presented to him by Barcelona midfielder Andres Iniesta but couldn't control the ball to turn and shoot.
Less than a minute into the second half, Lucas won another loose ball and set up Jonathan for a chance—but a very tame effort was easily saved by Bravo, before he missed the target minutes later.
Loser: Sergio Busquets
3 of 5
Sergio Busquets has been in great form over the past couple of months, but he was perhaps more guilty than most in the second half for a series of moments of poor concentration and ultimately contributed to Barcelona dropping points.
The holding midfielder gifted possession for a Depor counter-attack four times in the final 15 minutes of the game, one of which resulted in a goal.
It wasn't just Busquets; team-mates Iniesta, Jeremy Mathieu and Javier Mascherano were all guilty of being poor on the ball and conceding chances easily.
Loser: Sandro
4 of 5
How many more chances do Sandro and Munir get? Neither made a significant impact during Messi's absence and against Depor, with Neymar out, it was Sandro who got the the nod to start once again.
And, once again, he disappointed.
Two half-chances fell his way, neither saw Sandro get a clean shot away from good positions and it was no real surprise to see him subbed for Munir with 20 minutes to play—and it's worth noting he did little, either.
With Arda Turan soon to be involved, it's debatable we'll see too much of either young forward in the second half of the season.
Winner: Lucas Perez
5 of 5
Deportivo forward Lucas Perez continued his fine form of late with an all-action display against Barcelona, scoring one, being involved in creating chances and having another effort ruled out for offside.
He was a constant thorn in the home team's side on the counter-attack, finding his strike partner with regularity and showing all his good movement and confidence, which has been pivotal in Depor's run of form this season.
A fantastic finish from Lucas pulled the game back within reach and he has now netted in six Liga games in a row.
