Barca: Valverde admits Dembele’s return was disappointing

Ousmane Dembele was unable to make an impact as he came off the bench to return from a month on the sidelines in Barcelona's goalless draw with Getafe on Sunday.

Barca failed to register a shot on target in the first half at Camp Nou, with Ernesto Valverde bringing Dembele and Andres Iniesta on just after the hour in search of a breakthrough. Dembele was introduced on the right wing but endured a frustrating 30 minutes on his return from a hamstring injury.

The France international, who missed four months earlier in the season with a ruptured tendon, struggled to beat his man and was wasteful with the ball in just his eighth appearance for the club since his €105 million summer move from Borussia Dortmund.

"Dembele came on at a moment when we thought he could help us out by running at players in one-on-one situations," Valverde said at his postmatch news conference. “Maybe you could tell that he's not played a lot of football recently, though, because it didn't go quite as well as he would have liked against a strong opponent.”

"He had to try and use his strengths, which is when he's up against players and driving at them. He didn't have much luck with that today, but it's better that he tried those things than to not try anything."