The Catalans were victorious in their first pre-season match with promising performances from a number of players.
Barcelona kicked their pre-season off with a 5-3 victory over English side Tottenham Hotspur on penalties after an enthralling 2-2 draw in regulation time.
Despite a poor second half, the Blaugrana held their nerve during the shootout to ensure that they got off to a winning start and bagged their first two points in the International Champions Cup.
Underrated squad depth
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Although the second half was played exclusively by Barcelona B players (alongside Malcom and Jasper Cillessen), it was the side deployed in the first half that impressed the most.
With most first team players still on their break following the World Cup, this was the perfect opportunity for fringe players such as Munir and Rafinha to leave an impression on the coach, which is exactly what they did.
During the turbulent opening half hour, in which both Denis Suárez and André Gomes limped off with an injury, Rafinha notched two assists as Barcelona raced to a 2-0 lead, while Munir also bagged an early goal. It was new signing Arthur who scored Barca’s second, on his debut, no less, picking out the top corner from outside the box with a magnificent strike off his right boot. Speaking of Arthur.
New signings impress
It came as no surprise to see new signings Arthur and Clément Lenglet named in the starting line-up, as coach Valverde will want to get them settled as soon as possible, while Malcom was introduced from the bench at half time.
Arthur displayed his sublime vision and excellent passing range in the first half, while also scoring a magnificent goal from distance, while Lenglet was dependable at centre-half and looked comfortable on the ball.
Malcolm was quiet during the second half, but he did only join up with the squad two days ago. He can not be properly judged until he is given time to settle in.
No left-back purchase needed.
With confirmation of Lucas Digne’s transfer to Everton imminent, all eyes were on Barcelona B prospects Juan Miranda and Marc Cucurella as they looked to stake a claim as Jordi Alba’s understudy in the left back role, and how they delivered.
While Cucurella played a solid game during the second half, it is undoubtedly Miranda who has caught Valverde’s attention for his first half performance, with the highlight being a beautiful cross field diagonal from the left to pick out Rafinha which ultimately led to Barca’s second goal.
Considering Lucas Digne cost the board 16 million euros and has not exactly set the world alight, Miranda and Cucurella are more than deserving of a chance this coming season.
Roberto is a midfielder.
Forget Nélson Semedo’s brilliant first half performance at right back, it is Sergi Roberto’s showing in central midfield that stood out the most. Converted to a right-back by Luis Enrique in 2015 following a fall out with Dani Alves, Roberto has just shown Valverde how good he can be when deployed in his natural position.
His reading of the play was excellent, he occasionally took up the Busquets role and dropped back to create a three-man back line with the centre-backs, and his pass to Rafinha in the build up to the first goal was magical.
While there are some negatives to take from this game, most prominently the shaky young defence which conceded two second half goals in two minutes, Valverde has a lot more positives as he turns his attention to the Roma clash on Tuesday evening.