Back from injury, Memphis Depay must return to his place as Barcelona's best scorer this season against Galatasaray on Thursday in Istanbul: Barça, silent in the first leg (0-0), must score and win if he wants to be in the Europa League quarterfinals.
The former Lyon scorer had become, in a brilliant start to the season, the player who sold the most shirts for Barça after Messi left until he was injured.
Depay suffered on 8 December in a Champions League match against Bayern Munich a tear in the femoral biceps of his left thigh, which took him off the pitch for a month.
And on his return in early January, he could only play two games, in Granada and the classic against Real Madrid in the Spanish Super Cup in Saudi Arabia, before injuring himself again in practically the same place, in the hamstrings of his left leg and suffering a relapse when he was about to return in February.
A long tunnel lasting three months, but since his return at the end of last month, the huge lion that he has tattooed on his back roared: he scored in the victory against Athletic Bilbao 4-0.
- Competition -
And a week later he offered the 2-1 victory to his team against Elche by transforming a penalty (84), when he had only been on the pitch for nine minutes.
Starting in the first leg against Galatasaray last Thursday, Barça's N.9 failed to make a difference.
“Memphis Depay is currently experiencing the bitter side of football. He has gone from an idol of the public and untouchable for the coach, to losing title”, summarized the sports newspaper Marca in mid-January.
The problem is that in three months of absence a lot has changed in Barcelona.
The main offensive spearhead of the Bálgranas since their arrival last summer, Depay saw three direct competitors arrive in January: Ferran Torres (from Manchester City), Adama Traoré (on loan from Wolverhampton) and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang (free arrival).
Even Ousmane Dembélé, who seemed to have fallen out of favor in January, has regained ownership on the right side.
- 'We need him' -
Between the four of them they have scored 13 goals and given 12 assists in 15 games since the beginning of 2022. And we must not forget the secondary attackers: Luuk de Jong, sometimes decisive with his aerial game, and Martin Braithwaite, who has overcome a left knee injury.
Before his injury, the Dutch international had accumulated eight goals and two assists in 21 games.
“He's a very important player for us. It marks differences, creates spaces, generates occasions and is strategically an essential piece. He is one of the team's goalscorers, we need him to be happy,” said Xavi last November.
Last week in front of Iñaki Peña, the young Catalan goalkeeper on loan from Barça to the Turkish club, Depay will have to find the goal path again in the hotbed of the Ali Sami Yen stadium in Istanbul because, as Xavi says, “we need him”.
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