Joao Cancelo admits he was ‘a disaster’ in Barcelona’s 5-3 defeat to Villarreal

Redaction Simon Brett with Tom Procter
Published on 2024-01-28 09:30:00

Manchester City full-back Joao Cancelo has admitted that he had a terrible game for Barcelona this weekend against Villarreal.

The Portugal international was making his 23rd appearance of the season for Barca, following his loan move to the Spanish giants from City on transfer deadline last summer.

Although Cancelo has played well for Barca in most games, he owned up to a sub-par performance after the defeat. Cancelo had a game to forget on Saturday.

He was making his first appearance since returning from an injury that kept him sidelined for a few weeks and came off the bench at half-time. Seemingly, his lay-off contributed to a lack of match sharpness, with the 29-year-old being at fault for Villarreal’s second goal.

He was then caught out of position on Villarreal’s third goal and simply stood by and watched on the away side’s scrappy fourth. Cancelo admitted, “My performance today was a disaster. Tomorrow I will give everything in training to be at my best on Wednesday.”

The under-fire Barcelona manager Xavi announced that he will be stepping down at the end of the season following the result.

Fair play to Cancelo for publicly admitting he did not play well against Villarreal. Accountability is important and he clearly knows he wasn’t good enough on Saturday.

The £250,000-a-week man will go away now and work hard on the training pitch, and hopefully he will regain a bit of sharpness. City ideally needs him to maintain a good level through until the end of the season so that a permanent transfer for the player can be sealed.

There does not appear to be a way back for him at the Etihad Stadium, and so it’s all about Cancelo shining during this loan spell with Barca. Whether the Spanish club have the financial capability to actually sign him will be revealed in the summer but apparently, a bid of around £26 million could tempt City.

Read Original article on Manchester City News