Memphis Depay has also scored high in the Spanish media after his first competition match for Barcelona. The attacker did not score in the home game against Real Sociedad (4-2 win) on Sunday evening, but he was at the basis of the 1-0 after nineteen minutes with a free kick and was also clearly present. The day after the meeting of the team of Ronald Koeman, the first official game without Lionel Messi, the newspapers in Spain are not convinced for the first time this summer of the added value of Depay as Azulgrana.
Sport scatters with six sevens, four eights and Martin Braithwaite, good for two hits and an assist, even hands out a nine. Frenkie de Jong received a seven from the Catalan sports newspaper, while Depay received an eight from his first league match. He is nicknamed ‘the magician’ for his Sunday evening performances. “From the first minute he was busy making it barcelonismo to give hope. Gerard Pique’s opening goal was for half of Depay because of his good free kick. He was less in the story in the second half, but he left a good impression on his new supporters in his first game in La Liga.”
Memphis Depay? Gerard Pique ? ????????! ? The first assist from Memphis is a fact and it is gossamer ?? A tailor-made ball, especially for Piqué who handed in his salary for his arrival! ??#ZiggoSport #LaLiga #BarçaRealSociedad pic.twitter.com/uZJ3VBh7F7
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) August 15, 2021
Javier Giraldo, journalist of Sport, devotes an article to Depay’s competitive debut. “The game was not even ten minutes away when Depay had already shown a large part of his technical manual.” Giraldo points to a ‘sombrero’ with the outside of his foot in which the Dutchman forced his opponent Robin Le Normand to commit a foul. “It was just that, a feat of engineering and also in midfield, but it was enough to receive the first round of applause from the already hungry Barcelona fans. Depay moved with ease, provided freshness and looked motivated and involved. He made it clear that his technical skills are above average and that he can play well both on the side and in the goal area.”
“Depay’s versatility is invaluable for a Barcelona that is forced to embark on a path without Lionel Messi,” Giraldo emphasized. Also ASH talks about ‘the magic of Depay’. “Today, he is the player who adds the most magic to Barcelona from an attacking point of view,” read the unnumbered reviews of the Madrid sports newspaper. “He didn’t score, but with his dynamism he was responsible for creating a lot of spaces on the field. After his free kick, Barcelona took the lead. The lion begins to roar.”
Xavier Muñoz, journalist from Mundo Deportivo, points out that Depay “understood from day one that he owed his transfer to Barcelona to his status as the best player in Ligue 1 outside the Paris Saint-Germain star system.” “In his first games in the Barcelona kit, he emphatically shows that he wants to be decisive, but at the same time wants to stand out. And those are the basic conditions to be successful at Barcelona if you are a striker. The start of Depay is promising. It seems he is not afraid of the challenge of being set up as Barcelona’s main attacking newspaper.”
Spain’s best-selling newspaper is also raving about Depay’s added value in the Barcelona team and in LaLiga: Espectaculo Memphis Depay, as it says above an article by marca, referring to ‘the spectacle’ of the Dutchman: ‘We are going to have fun with this one’. “Depay was the vitamin against melancholy. With his sombrero against Le Normand, he immediately handed over his business card. It was the start of a number of actions that were not all equally productive, but almost all were vibrant. He accounted for the dead moments, in the counter he almost made his first, he was important in the team game and had a click with Antoine Griezmann and De Jong. “
“Towards the end, Depay looked drained, but his debut was fun and a joy to watch. It more than lived up to the expectations that everyone had of the Dutchman. A player whose arrival a stubborn Koeman kept hammering away and for whom Barcelona did not even have to pay a transfer fee.” Also with ElDesmarque is the highest rating for Braithwaite, a nine, but Depay is not much lower than the Dane with an eight. “He was the center of attention. Depay is the best signing of Barcelona and in his first league game he immediately proved it. He prepared for the 1-0, stood out with individual actions, divided the game and was dangerous in and around the goal area. That’s how you raise as the leader of a new project.”