Lamine Yamal, who had won the Man of the Match award in the group stage at this stadium with a brilliant performance, was substituted by Hansi Flick in the 69th minute when Dortmund was leading 2-1.

Yamal sat on the bench with a frustrated look, hiding his face. He knew this wasn’t his night. Perhaps he was upset with Flick’s decision to substitute him, which was unusual given the scoreline and his performance, but the truth was he didn’t deserve to stay on the pitch. Maybe his anger was directed at himself.

Yamal is still under 18, and it’s natural for him to have bad days. Perhaps his body and mind need more rest to regain the dazzling brilliance he failed to show against Borussia Dortmund. In this match, he misplaced simple passes, lacked accuracy, gave away dangerous balls, and made poor decisions repeatedly. This was undoubtedly one of his worst performances of the season.

In Dortmund, Yamal broke his own curse in big nights. The Barcelona forward had never been lackluster on important days before this match. In El Clásicos, at the Bernabéu, in Jeddah against Bayern Munich, in the first leg against Dortmund, against Atlético Madrid in La Liga and the Copa del Rey, he had always shone and made a positive impact. But this time, Barcelona’s big night passed without the brilliance of their young star.