Best Barcelona players in 2021

Season 2020/21 has ended, with FC Barcelona only winning the Spanish Cup, finishing 3rd in La Liga, which has been their worst record for over a decade - and being eliminated in the round of 16 of UEFA Champions League by Paris Saint-Germain.

Throughout the season, the performances of many players, even those of some of the most prominent ones, did not live up to expectations, and put Barcelona in hot water. They had several opportunities to take the table-leading Atletico Madrid down from the top, but wasted them all, mostly because of abundant individual errors in defensive acts.

However, there have been some players that kept the team going, and brought the club the Copa del Rey. Some of their biggest stars stepped up while others weren't able to maintain their levels on a consistent basis.

Let’s take a look at Ronald Koeman’s squad: Memphis Depay,

, Eric Garcia and Emerson Royal were signed in this summer window. On the other hand, they lost their most coveted star

to PSG on a free transfer. Junior Firpo, Jean-Clair Todibo and Carlos Alena left the club forever.

Best Barcelona players in 2021:

In this article, we are focusing on the

2020-2021 Barcelona player details

, especially on those players who if it had not been for them, Barcelona would not have even been qualified for the 21/22 UEFA Champions League.

Lionel Messi

• Full name: Lionel Andrés Messi

• Date of birth: 24 June 1987 (age 34)

• Place of birth: Rosario, Santa Fe, Argentina

• Height: 1.69 m (5 ft 7 in)

• Position(s): Forward

The same as each and every season since 2008/9, Lionel Messi was

's best player of 2020/21 season. The Argentinean is very likely to win his 7th Ballon d'Or at the end of the year due to his stunning performances for Barcelona and his national team in 2021.

Messi played in a total of 47 games during the season, scored 38 goals and provided 12 assists. Let's take at his stats with more detail: Leo Messi featured in 35 La Liga games, scored 30 goals and provided 9 assists.

He was the league's top scorer and won his 8th Pichichi trophy, and stood 5th in the table of highest-assist providers. Messi had the best minutes-per-goal ratio with 100, and had the most shots on target per match with 2.6 shots.

Moreover, with 4.5 successful dribbles per match, he was the best player in that ranking. Messi also sent 2.2 key passes per match and stood 2nd behind only

with 2.4. Furthermore, having created 22 big chances, he was the most successful player in making big chances.

Messi’s astonishing performance was the pivotal reason why Barcelona finished the league 3rd and not in a lower place. Moreover, he appeared in 6 UEFA Champions League games, where he scored 5 goals and provided 2 assists.

However, he couldn’t prevent his team from being eliminated by

in the round of 16. In addition, the Argentinean genius scored 3 goals and recorded 1 asissts within 5 Copa del Rey matches, and was a huge contribution to Barcelona winning the Spanish Cup for the 31st time.

The evergreen Messi had to leave Barcelona at the end of the season after 16 wonderful seasons at Camp Nou to continue his journey at France with PSG.

Messi left the Blaugrana to join French giants PSG. His partner in crime

is also gone. Barcelona also signed Sergio Aguero and Memphis Depay for free this summer.

Even though Aguero is a brilliant player, he cannot fit into the Barcelona system since he has been injured the most of last season and could hardly be able to back to this top form. Their young striker from the youth team in Ansu Fati is one to watch out for.

Frenkie De Jong

• Full name: Frenkie de Jong

• Date of birth: 12 May 1997 (age 24)

• Place of birth: Gorinchem, Netherlands

• Height: 1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)

• Position(s): Midfielder

The Dutch midfielder's second season at Camp Nou was far better than his first one. He has been one of the

best Barcelona players in 2021

. Under Ronald Koeman,

managed to somehow show what he has been expected to do.

De Jong is growing into one of the finest midfielders in La Liga and this season was a major step in the right direction for the Dutchman. Reunited with his former national team coach, De Jong was used in a variety of positions and it'd be fair to say that he did a commendable job throughout.

He featured in 37 LaLiga games (out of 38), scored 3 goals and provided 4 assists, although he has been used as a center back in 6 games. Moreover, De Jong passed 2560 balls with an accuracy of 92%. He was the player with the most accurate passes per match with a record of 69.2 accurate passes per 90 minutes.

He also performed 27 successful tackles, 38 interceptions, and 26 clearances. In addition, he played a very vital role in winning the Copa del Rey, where he featured in 5 matches, scored 3 goals and provided 2 assists.

He also played in 7 Champions League games. Barcelona fans have gotten their hopes up of De Jong's even brighter performance for the upcoming season, and it seems like he won't let them down.

De Jong also won the Barça Players Award for 2020/21, as selected by the FC Barcelona Players Group in recognition of the most sporting male player of the previous season.

The jury gathered at Camp Nou to make their decision on the basis of votes cast by more than 5,000 fans around the world. Those votes singled out Messi, De Jong,

, and Martens, Alèxia and Aitana as the finalists.

Previous recipients of the award include elite names like Carles Puyol, Xavi Hernandez, Andres Iniesta, Lionel Messi, among others. And now Frenkie de Jong has also joined the list for the 2020/21 season, along with Aitana Bonmati of FC Barcelona Femeni.

Pedri

• Full name: Pedro González López

• Date of birth: 25 November 2002 (age 18)

• Place of birth: Tegueste, Spain

• Height: 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)

• Position(s): Central midfielder

The Spanish wonder kid has been catching eyes since his first appearance with Blaugrana shirt. Upon making astounding performances with Barcelona in 2020/21 season, and the European Championship that followed the season, he has proven himself to be one of the best football talents in the world.

was an absolute sensation last season, and Koeman’s decision to give him time on the pitch gave rise to one of the best youngsters we have ever seen in a Barcelona shirt. The former UD Palmas midfielder was brilliant, and even brought comparisons to Messi himself. He was orchestrating the attack, making the passes, keeping the ball, finding the space, he was doing everything right. At the age of only 18, the player made 52 appearances all season

Looking at his stats, one won’t be too impressed however, Pedri is more of an Iniesta-type player, who does not always score or provide an assist, however, he does make a key pass which opens up the attack and leads to the goal. Pedri is a dedicated worker and his work rate is second to none.

The 18-year-old midfielder featured in a total of 52 games for Barcelona, only missing 2 Copa del Rey, 1 La Liga and 1 UEFA Champions League matches, and playing in every other possible game.

Pedri scored 4 goals and provided 6 assists within those 52 games, and has been one of the best players in

FC Barcelona squad 2021

. Regarded as one of the most promising talents in Europe, he will probably win the Golden Boy award of 2021, after also being named the Best Young Player of EURO 2020.

Antoine Greizmann

• Full name: Antoine Griezmann

• Date of birth: 21 March 1991 (age 30)

• Place of birth: Mâcon, France

• Height: 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)

• Position(s): Forward

Another big-money signing,

, was unable to replicate the form from his

days in his first season at Barcelona. However, he has been an important player for Barcelona this term.

The Frenchman was able to strike up a good partnership with Lionel Messi and the pair were the driving force behind Barcelona's resurgence midway through the season. Griezmann helped alleviate the burden of goalscoring on Lionel Messi and chipped in with goals and assists to help Barcelona win the Copa Del Rey.

The French attacker who joined Barcelona in 2019 for 120 Million Euros was under a lot of pressure in his first season with Blaugrana.

However, his performance improved as time went by, and in 2020/21 Griezmann was one of the

best Barcelona players in 2021

, although fans expect much more of him. He played in a total of 51 games for the club, scoring 20 goals and providing 13 assists. He was the team's top scorer after Lionel Messi, and 2nd top assist provider behind Jordi Alba (15).

The French man took part in 36 La Liga games, scored 13 goals and recorded 8 assists. Moreover, within 7 Champions League games, he scored 2 goals. His best performance occurred in the Copa del Rey where with 3 goals and 4 assists within 6 games he was the key part of the squad in winning the title.

With Lionel Messi leaving the club, Griezmann will be the No.1 player of the club in the attacking line, and Barcelona lovers will be expecting a lot more of him than what they have seen during the last 2 seasons.

Atletico Madrid President, Enrique Cerezo once said, “Any team would be crazy about having Griezmann. He’s a magnificent player and I hope to get him back, but I don’t think Barcelona want to sell him."

Jordi Alba

• Full name: Jordi Alba Ramos

• Date of birth: 21 March 1989 (age 32)

• Place of birth: L'Hospitalet de Llobregat, Spain

• Height: 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in)

• Position(s): Left-back

Barcelona's 32-year-old left back was one of the best Barcelona players in 2021. He was the club's top assist provider in all competitions with 15 assists in 49 appearances.

After the first couple of months of the season, questions were asked about

's ability to perform at the highest level week in and week out. However, the Spaniard hit sublime form in December and January. It coincided with Barcelona's upturn in form and Alba was clearly one of the major contributing factors.

The left-back has shown over the course of the season that even though he is in his 30s, he still has a lot to offer the club. Alba's versatility and technical proficiency has enabled Ronald Koeman to use him as a defensive midfielder at times too.

He also scored 5 goals. Five of Jordi Alba's assists has been in his 5 games in the Copa del Rey, where he also scored 2 goals to play a pivotal part in the team achieving the cup. He is deservedly included in

ranking the 5 best Barcelona players for season 2020-21

.

Barcelona are looking for a long-term replacement for Alba but he continues to remain a key figure and it looks like he has at least a couple more seasons of playing at the highest level left in him.

Memphis Depay

• Full name: Memphis Depay

• Date of birth: 13 February 1994 (age 27)

• Place of birth: Moordrecht, Netherlands

• Height: 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)

• Position(s): Forward

Barcelona’s biggest problem last season was the goal-scoring. Yes, they were the highest scorers in the league by quite a bit, however, 30 of those goals came from a single player, and that same player gave 11 assists in the league as well. This does not look good for the whole team, and the main problem was that the Catalans played without a proper striker last season.

This season, however, Koeman finally got the player that he wanted,

, and Barca finally have themselves a number nine. While Depay is not a traditional number nine, Koeman used to play him as a striker in the Netherlands National Team and thus knows how to use him efficiently in the box.

Depay will have the task of putting the balls in the back of the net, and taking some pressure off of Messi’s shoulders. Depay had a fantastic 2020/21 season with Lyon, and scored 20 goals in the league while providing 12 assists. He needs to keep up that form in his new uniform, and if manages to do so, he will be one of Barcelona’s most important and crucial players next season.

Sergino Dest

• Full name: Sergiño Gianni Dest

• Date of birth: November 3, 2000 (age 20)

• Place of birth: Almere, Netherlands

• Height: 5 ft 8 in (173 cm)

• Position(s): Full-back

In a season where the Catalans could not make a lot of transfers, in fact, they could only bring in three new players, one player still managed to shine above the rest.

was handpicked by Ronald Koeman and Barcelona paid 21 million euros to Ajax to bring the American to Catalonia.

Dest was chosen to be a direct replacement for Nelson Semedo who was on his way to Wolves after a below-average 2019/20 season.

The new right-back took a little time to fit into the team however, his natural talent helped him find his first goal for the club very quickly. The player was selected not mainly due to his defensive skills, but mostly due to his attacking nature which is similar to Jordi Alba or legend

.

Dest appeared in 44 games across all competitions last season and was one of Koeman’s most important players. He may not have shown his true potential last season; however, he was miles ahead of the other transfers, Francisco Trincão and Matheus Fernandes.

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