Mesut Ozil did not enjoy his finest hour in an Arsenal shirt against Barcelona but was he so bad as to be unworthy of rating?
Evidently that was the case for Spanish newspaper AS, who labelled the German playmaker the worst player on the pitch at the Emirates as two goals from Lionel Messi left Arsenal’s Champions League hopes on a knife edge.
Evaluating the game’s performers between zero and three only Ozil and Mathieu Flamini, who gave away a penalty 47 seconds after replacing Francis Coquelin for the game’s closing stages, were given the lowest of ratings.
In Arsene Wenger’s side it was only the defence that received much praise from AS, with all of the back five bar Nacho Monreal receiving two-out-of-three rating, the “remarkable” Petr Cech drawing particular praise.
Ozil, sold by Real Madrid for £42.5m to balance the books after their signing of Gareth Bale, was rarely the most popular player in the Spanish capital as he often struggled to impose his will on major games under Jose Mourinho.
However the 27-year-old may be entitled to feel harshly done by after a performance that was far from as poor as it was labelled in the Spanish media.
