Spanish Media: Roque’s Repeated Mistakes at Betis Prove Barca Was Right to Drop Him

According to reports from the Spanish newspaper AS, in the recent match against Sevilla, Brazilian forward Roque once again demonstrated issues with his shooting accuracy, causing significant concern for Real Betis. The entire team hopes he can quickly improve his goal-scoring efficiency.

This summer, Roque transferred to Betis and became a key striker in manager Manuel Pellegrini’s tactical setup. After Barcelona decided to let him go, Roque received an opportunity to prove himself. Neither during Xavi’s tenure nor under Flick’s leadership did Roque get enough playing time. Flick evaluated Roque during the summer friendlies but ultimately concluded that he was not suitable for his tactical system.

With the help of Joaquin, Betis successfully persuaded Roque to join. However, his performance at Betis seems to validate Barcelona’s decision to “sell” him: in the derby against Sevilla, Roque missed two excellent goal-scoring opportunities, which was undoubtedly a huge disappointment for Betis. In the previous match against Leganes, although Roque broke the deadlock first, he still appeared somewhat lacking in terms of shooting.

Pellegrini chose to start Roque in the derby and created two very good shooting opportunities for him. Unfortunately, Roque’s shooting accuracy was lacking. After the game, the head coach directly pointed this out: “In such a closely contested derby, if you get a one-on-one shooting chance, you must seize it.”

To date, Roque has only scored one goal, raising doubts about whether he can become the ideal striker in Pellegrini’s mind.

Barcelona invested a substantial amount to bring in Roque, with a base transfer fee of approximately 30 million euros and an additional 30 million euros in variable clauses. This deal was met with considerable skepticism at the time. After negotiations with other clubs failed to materialize, Roque eventually joined Betis on loan. He hoped to showcase his abilities through La Liga matches and make significant progress under Pellegrini’s guidance, which is crucial for his career. Currently, his performance seems to provide a certain degree of justification for Barcelona’s decision.