Barcelona single out 24-year-old for criticism after poor performance against Real Madrid

Collectively, Barcelona’s performance against Real Madrid in Sunday’s Spanish Super Cup was well below-par. Xavi Hernandez’s side failed to lay a glove on their Clasico rivals, aside from Robert Lewandowski’s first half strike, and at the other end, they made it too easy for Los Blancos’ star-studded attack.

Within Barcelona, they have singled out players for especially poor performances against Real Madrid, and Sport have reported that Inaki Pena was one of those that Xavi and his coaching staff were especially disappointed with, from a tactical standpoint.

Barcelona believe that Pena could have prevented Real Madrid’s opening two goals if he had been more aware of play. They feel that he could have acted as a sweeper keeper on both occasions.

Despite this, Barcelona have been pleased with Pena’s overall performance since taking over from Marc-Andre Ter Stegen. However, he will lose his place in the line-up over the coming weeks when the German international returns from his back injury.