Memphis Depay played a crucial role in the Villarreal-Barcelona (1-3) encounter in LaLiga on Saturday. The attacker missed a few imposed opportunities, but showed his brilliance two minutes before the end when he punished a mistake in the defense and put the 1-2 on the scoreboard in a wonderful and cold-blooded way. Frenkie de Jong had previously taken care of the 0-1 in the Estadio de la Cerámica. The newspapers in Spain praise Depay for his decisive goal in Eastern Spain, but at the same time also reflect on the opportunities that the the Dutch international missed time and again.
Sergi Capdevila, the journalist who hands out the numbers at Sport, gives Depay a seven, but at the same time he is also honest in his explanation. “Honestly, I had a critical and negative assessment of the Dutchman ready, because he had killed all opportunities. And that is unforgivable when you are the number 9 in Barcelona. But after a misstep by Villarreal just before time, he fell from heaven and finished like an angel. From hell in heaven…” De Jong also gets a seven in the Catalan sports newspaper. “In the first half he gave three golden balls, including one towards Depay. His compatriot could not use it. He seems like a different person since the arrival of Xavi. He has regained his playfulness and ease. That is a positive development.”
unbelievable?? Barça is no longer involved against Villarreal, but Memphis makes it 2-1 on the indication of Ter Stegen! ?? What a great goal from the Dutchman ??#ZiggoSport #LaLiga #VillarrealBarça #MotD pic.twitter.com/epsFWnaoJD
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) Nov 27, 2021
The title above the review article of ASH is telling: ‘Depay dresses up as Messi’. The sports newspaper from Madrid does not hand out numbers and that is sometimes a good thing. “Depay is able to alternate childish mistakes with a brilliant move that ends in a goal. He missed the chance of three sure-fire goals, including one that will no doubt be repeated in comedy programmes. But Depay wanted to get rid of the usual banality and scored a brilliant goal.” ASH was not entirely convinced of De Jong. “He regularly shows his talent and quality, but there is still a lack of continuity in that area. And that’s what the team needs. Often it does nothing. At least this time he managed to open the score.”
Also with Mundo Deportivo no numbers. The Catalan sports newspaper is always brief in its reviews anyway. “De Jong made the game. He scored and gave an assist to Depay, which the attacker incomprehensibly did not do anything with.” About Depay: “He straightened himself in the final phase with a decisive and very valuable goal. The way in which he was unable to cash in on a pass from De Jong in the first half, near the penalty spot, is unforgivable.” De Jong gets a ElDesmarque the highest grade: an eight. “A good game from the Dutchman, who looked liberated in midfield. From his position, he generated opportunities for his teammates and he went on the attack to make his first of the season.” For Depay, a six was the highest achievable. “He missed a great opportunity in the first half, but with his wonderful goal in the final minutes he still managed to put a positive spin on his bad game.”
‘Finally Depay’, is the title above the review article of marca. “The attacker was close to scoring twice in the first half, but he missed both chances. Xavi couldn’t believe from the sidelines that he was killing these chances. In minute 88, however, Depay got his gram and scored a wonderful goal.” The Madrid daily saw De Jong play ‘a very complete game’. “He brought depth and attacking impulses to the Barcelona system. He made the difference with his splitting and precise passes, especially towards Depay.”
In La Contracronica, the somewhat looser analysis of the match, stands marca consider the missed opportunities of Depay. Tierra, trágame is the headline of a paragraph about the the Dutch International, which can more or less be translated into Dutch as ‘to sink through the ground’. “Every day it becomes clearer and clearer that Depay should not be the man Barcelona should hang their offensive impulses on. The Dutchman occasionally shows details, but it lacks continuity and it is clearly not a killer. You see him for five minutes a month, so to speak. In the duel with Villarreal, he did it in the last minutes to prevent a match from ending in a certain draw. Barcelona cannot depend on a player who is too volatile.”