It was a challenging night for Paris Saint-Germain’s Bradley Barcola in the 2-0 loss to Arsenal on Tuesday at Emirates Stadium. The 22-year-old played all 90 minutes but did little to impact the matchup.
Barcola had zero total shots while recording one key pass on 43 touches. Moreover, the youngster only won three of his 10 duels and completed 18 of 27 passes for a 67 pass completion percentage.
Following the loss, Barcola and Désiré Doué were at the center of criticism from RMC Sport’s Daniel Riolo. The French pundit used Disney characters to describe how terrible their performances were in the disappointing loss in North London.
“In the team, you’ve got Bambi and Thumper. Bambi has grown up a bit, almost an adult now, and I’m saying he’s improved,” Riolo said (h/t Le10Sport). “You had a young player making progress (referring to Barcola), and you put Thumper on the other side because you benched Dembélé.
“Désiré Doué is struggling, he’s completely overwhelmed. Doué even has more talent than Barcola. Did you see Barcola in the Champions League? Against Dortmund, did you notice him? He was there. But tonight, he doesn’t even dare to dribble! In the second half, Luis Enrique told Thumper to move to the left to cause trouble for Arteta.”
PSG will look to rebound from this loss when they take on OGC Nice on Sunday, just ahead of the upcoming FIFA international break. Their next Champions League match will be on October 22, where they’ll face PSV Eindhoven at the Parc des Princes.
