The best version of Ousmane Dembélé

It was a standard performance from FC Barcelona in the first half against Villarreal: lots of possession but with a slow tempo. The only person to offer something different was Ousmane Dembele who caused the opposition problems with his pace and getting in behind. He was the most dangerous player and showed a good understanding with Semedo.

Jordi Alba was causing problems down the left-hand side and Dembele on the right. However, with Luis Suarez, the attack was lacking a bit of bite. Arturo Vidal only got on the end of one of Alba's crosses.

Coutinho was struggling to get into the game and Messi was less involved than usual. And it's true that after Gerard Pique scored from a Dembele cross, Barça drastically improved until the end of the first half.

It's clear that yesterday wasn't Leo Messi's best match - even though his assist for Aleña was very good - but it did show off what Dembele can bring to the team this season.

Carles Aleña's brief cameo was also a cause for optimisim. With 20 minutes left to go he didn't only score a goal but demonstrated that he could be a very useful member of the first team this season.

Barcelona suffered a lot more than most expected because the second goal took so long to come. They suffered too much for how little Villarreal actually offered. It's true that they had a lot of the ball in the second half but they didn't create many clear cut chances.