‘Not even an ounce of talent’: Ronaldinho’s son FINALLY makes his Barcelona Under-19 debut but is scheduled online as fans ridicule the youngster and dismiss any comparisons to his legendary father
- Ronaldinho’s son made his Barcelona debut for the club on Wednesday
- But the youngster struggled on his first appearance for the club’s U19 side
- Social media later sprang up to dismiss comparisons to his legendary father
Ronaldinho’s son has finally made his Barcelona debut but failed to shine as spectators were unimpressed by his skill and trickery.
Joao Mendes signed his first professional contract with the club in early March after successfully completing an initial trial period.
The 18-year-old was handed his first Barcelona match shirt for their U19 academy team in the Mediterranean International Cup on Wednesday afternoon.
His performance for the Juvenil B team came from a wave of anticipation as Barcelona supporters waited to see if Mendes would live up to his father’s legendary status.
However, a video montage of his performance has been posted online showing the youngster struggling to make the impact many hoped.
Ronaldinho’s son (pictured) has finally made his Barcelona debut for the club’s youth team
Ronaldinho’s son Joao Mendes (right) signed his first contract with Barcelona at the beginning of March
Mendes (left) did not impress in the youth cup match on Wednesday afternoon
Ronaldinho wrote himself into the Barcelona history books during a trophy-laden spell at the club between winning two LaLiga titles, the Champions League, two Spanish Super Cups, not to mention a Ballon d’Or award for being the best player in the world. world was .
On first assessment, that superstar talent doesn’t seem possessed by the Brazilian’s son, who struggled in his first appearance in Barcelona.
The 29-second music video features several clips of Mendes’ performance, in which he attempted to recreate some of his father’s trickery, tried unsuccessfully to get past opposing players, and struggled to pick off teammates in the penalty area.
Many players have been overly criticized in the past after a rough debut before going on to a stellar career, but social media didn’t let up after Mendes’ clip quickly racked up more than 7 million views.
A harsh critic insisted the youngster possessed “not an ounce of talent” and “would be furious” if he were Ronaldinho.
Another post similarly ridiculed Mendes’ performance, breaking all comparisons to his World Cup-winning father, saying, “Like father and certainly not like son.”
Mendes’ inability to dribble past the opposition full-back was also called into question, with one onlooker suggesting that ‘there are 16-year-olds from Newham East London better than this guy’ and another joked that the academy’s talent ‘ not even dribbled past one man’. .
However, some tried to balance the argument and show support for Mendes by insisting that his first appearance shouldn’t be scrutinized overly closely, posting, “It’s his freshman year.” He will adapt to the elite academy level and then it will be up to him to go beyond that.”