Barcelona‘s new era under interim manager Sergi Barjuan didn’t have the brightest of starts as the Catalan club were held to a 1-1 draw by the relegation battling Deportivo Alaves on Saturday night. 

After winning only one of their last four league matches under Ronald Koeman, Barca president Joan Laporta decided to part ways with the Dutchman. Following the defeat against Rayo Vallecano, Koeman was relieved of his duties and Barjuan took over on a temporary basis while the search for a new manager is still on. 

But a change in personnel hasn’t magically paved the way for Barcelona‘s resurgence and the gaping holes in every department are still quite evident. While the Catalans enjoyed the lion’s share of possession and had innumerable attempts, they failed to breach the Alaves defence, except on a single occasion.

Memphis Depay gave Barcelona the lead with a wonderful strike from outside the area in the 49th minute, only for Luis Rioja to dribble through the centre of the hosts’ painfully passive defence and equalise three minutes later.

Barjuan could still be in charge on Tuesday when Barcelona travels to Ukraine to face Dynamo Kyiv in a match that it needs to win to boost its chances of avoiding elimination from the Champions League group stage for the first time in two decades.

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Meanwhile, the Barjuan aligned teenagers Gavi Paez and Nico González alongside veteran captain Sergi Busquets in midfield three. He stuck to Koeman’s preferred 4-3-3 formation and gave Sergio Aguero his second straight start.

However, the Argentine forward had to be substituted in the 41st after he motioned to the top of his chest and throat. After spending a minute stretched on the turf, he was able to walk off. Barjuan said that Aguero was taken to the hospital for tests.

Barcelona’s Gerard Pique limped off in the 69th, adding to a list of injured players that already included Pedri Gonzalez, Frenkie de Jong, Ansu Fati, Ousmane Dembele, Ronald Araujo and Sergi Roberto. Barjuan also gave a debut to 19-year-old Abde Ezzalzouli in the final minutes.

Meanwhile, only 37,000 fans turned out at the 99,000-seat Camp Nou. The rainy day and the long weekend with Monday being a holiday dampened the turnout, but so did the poor results of the team.

With inputs from the Associated Press