Barcelona draw with Nice debut for Rakitic and Matthew

Barcelona-vs-Nice- Rakitic-Matthew

Barcelona handed starts to new signings Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Jeremy Mathieu, while Ivan Rakitic was introduced at half time, but were held to a 1-1 draw by Nice on Saturday night.

Xavi Hernandez came off the bench to score a second half penalty after Dario Cvitanich had given the French side the lead.

With so many changes throughout the match, Barça struggled to break into any real rhythm, although Luis Enrique will be happy enough to have seen the majority of his squad come through 45 minutes of competitive football.

One negative was a first half injury to Martin Montoya.

Starting at right-back, the 23-year-old hobbled off injured just before the break and the Catalans will hope they won't be robbed of his services for too long.

Ter Stegen was the only player to complete the 90 minutes, making a good save from an early free kick and proving reliable with his feet - as he demonstrated in his first appearance against Recreativo Huelva.

In the middle of defence, Gerard Pique partnered Mathieu, with the former giving away the penalty which allowed Nice to take the lead.

Mathieu demonstrated some decent aerial play, although more will be expected from him as his Blaugrana career continues - he was replaced by Edgar Ie in the second half.

Andres Iniesta came close from a first half free kick, while Pedro's cross-cum-shot clipped the bar.

Munir El-Haddadi, who was introduced at half time, wasted a great chance when a Nice mistake sent him clean through, although it was the same player who later won the penalty which Xavi converted.

And Barça had two great chances to win it late on.

First of all, young striker Sandro hit the inside of the post after he collected Ie's sliced shot inside the penalty area; then Marc Bartra shot wide when Nice's defence parted to allow him to race through the centre of the pitch.
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