Samuel Umtiti’s once glittering reputation took another major hit during Barcelona’s 2-0 Copa del Rey defeat last night.
And even the most hard-nosed Real Madrid fan would have struggled to take much pleasure out of the way a World Cup winner was left red-faced in the build-up to Sevilla’s opening goal.
Umtiti dived out of position as Jules Kounde slalomed through to score a brilliant individual goal, the sort Diego Maradona once made his trademark in those iconic blue-and-red stripes.
To make matters worse, Kounde could soon take Umtiti’s place in Didier Deschamps’ European Championship squad.
And the titanic clash at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan highlighted the growing gap between one of the game’s most exciting young defenders and an injury-hit 27-year-old who looks a fading shadow of his 2018 pomp.
According to The Athletic, Liverpool’s centre-back search led sporting director Michael Edwards to enquire about Umtiti in January.
The £24 million, former Lyon stopper had no interest in leaving Camp Nou, however, and Liverpool quickly turned to Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak.
Edwards usually strikes gold in the transfer market – he’s the man with the Midas touch. It’s difficult to shake the feeling, however, that Umtiti would have been the wrong man at the wrong time for a Liverpool side with barely space left in its treatment room.
Since the start of 2017/18, a concoction of knee, foot and calf problems have seen Umtiti miss a remarkable 75 games in all competitions.
And, 60 minutes after Kounde skipped through to give Sevilla the lead, the night became even worse for his beleaguered compatriot.
As Ivan Rakitic raced through to fire home against the club that cancelled his contract in the summer, Umtiti was picking himself off the turf – an ill-timed slip leaving the Croatian free to finish in style.
“Umtiti was good in the game. He made mistakes like everyone else does,” Barca boss Ronald Koeman told the Daily Mail.
“It’s part of football. It’s not fair to go after him. We all lose and we all win together.”
Deep down, however, Koeman will know Umtiti may have consigned Barcelona to a trophy-less season.
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