Guillem Balague stated he couldn’t recall a debutant making a bigger impact than Adama Traore for Barcelona against Atletico Madrid yesterday.
The 26-year-old was handed a first start by Xavi since completing a loan move to the Nou Camp just before the January transfer deadline.
He started wide on the right, just as he has mainly done for Wolves.
It was also going to be fascinating to see how he fared.
To be frank, it couldn’t really have gone much better for Traore.
The star caused all sorts of problems for Atleti, who are known for their defensive solidity under Diego Simeone.
In the 4-2 win for Barca he played a part in the first two goals.
His assist on the second was typical Traore; working a yard of space on the full-back in a flash, before getting to the byline and crossing.
It was a fantastic ball, which was met in the box by Gavi of all people.
The star looked confident, and at one point he burst through the middle of the pitch leaving players for dead, before moving the ball out wide to the left.
It was a superb first-half, and the ace really caught Balague’s eye during the game.
The pundit and Spanish football expert wrote on Twitter: “I can’t remember in recent times a debutant player that in half hour had affected a game so much (assist on the second) and had forced a team to change positions of rivals -Carrasco moved to the left to help Koke and especially Mario Hermoso to try to stop him!!”
Pain already for Wolves fans as Adama Traore dazzles for Barcelona
Traore was excellent in that first-half yesterday, and his performance will no doubt have many a Wolves fan squirming.
It is obviously made worst by the fact that Wolves went out of the FA Cup on Saturday to Norwich City with a really poor performance.
It was perhaps inevitable that Traore was going to depart Molineux last month. But that won’t make it any easier for those that really wanted him to stay put.
It will be very interested to see if he is able to kick on from this display.
There is now big competition for places in the front three. But more performances like against Atleti will see him playing plenty.