It wasn’t quite the fiesta that everyone expected but Barcelona got the job done and that’s surely all that matters at this stage.
Ernesto Valverde has never been the most popular coach amongst cules, but let’s firstly tip our collective hats to a man who has won two La Liga titles in his two seasons as Barca coach, losing just three games in the process.
Unbeaten in the domestic competition since November, whichever way you dress it up, that is a sensational record. To knock him for one poor Champions League night in Rome is inherently wrong.