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Not at his best yesterday, but no, he did not suck. He never hurts the team, even on his worst days, uses all his experience very well.

Not his best game, but OK. He and Dembele rotating is fine.

Great game, even though his shooting is currently zero and he should always be subbed. The team needs nothing more than what he is providing now.

Does not matter. Any of these are in serious trouble facing Barca. They will do well just to not get embarrassed like Lyon.

For a forward, as long as he does not do really destructive things like commit penalties or create counters by the opponents, what is important is that he does good things. Coutinho did that yesterday, hurrah. Did he make errors? Who cares! Messi tries things all the time that don't work, I...

Every team left in this competition fears Barca. All 4 forwards were superb. Arthur, both CBs also excellent, no one was bad.

Great game. He fits so well on this team, irreplaceable.

He'll miss two Liga games, maybe 3. Good thing Coutinho is perking up. Bad guy to lose, but this is the clubs deepest position.

This is the best attacking team Valverde can field today, given that Dembele must not be at his best. If this group does not score, Vidal will enter early, and maybe Alena, too.

No. Coutinho has not sparkled much recently, but Deulofeu was much, much worse.

Zidane sure is a better choice than Mourinho. Under ZZ, RM should be able to hold on and finish second or third in La Liga.

It bodes well that both Rakitic and Vidal are playing so well right now. Vidal breaks up the opponents offense so often, they must hate playing against him. Since Rakitic is having such good offensive run recently, he covers for some of the fluency that Vidal does not provide on offense.

Gotta get rid of either Coutinho or Malcom, to better balance the squad, replace that spot for a viable rotation option for Suarez. Not Boatang quality, someone who can grow into a starter. Get backup for Alba, find a good enough replacement for Cillessen, who will surely leave. No one else...

He is essential now. His interplay with the rest of the offense continues to improve, which was his worst deficiency. The frequency of hideous passes continues to decline. He does not need to constantly dominate. Play well with others, about 3 brilliancies per game, cut the brain-dead...

Valverde is hinting that some of the key players are too beat up or weary to start this game. So, I expect one or two surprises. We'll need the depth to keep us in the game for at least the first half. Then, he'll need to make the right two subs at halftime, like he did in the Sevilla game.

OK, the more I see, the more I like this young guy. You can see him improve, game by game. Right now, he can play mainly as a sub, first off the bench when a comeback is needed. He is the midfielder who will be starting on the hyperspeed Dembele Barca team in a couple of years.

If he could get back on the field for at least one of the RM games, that would be huge.

Tough four away games in a row, over 13 days. All of the available key players are flying to Sevilla, all went to Lyon, will all go twice to Madrid? Umtitti should start instead of Lenglet in Sevilla. Alena should start this one, instead of Vidal.

The results with Alena on the field have not been good, he has not shown yet that he is the answer. You've got to like his approach, always attacking, but the killer passes and shots have been absent.