Barcelona vs Roma: match preview

The Catalans play Roma in a rematch of the Champions League quarter-finals tie from last season.

Barcelona continue their preparation for the new season with a tie opposite Eusebio Di Francesco’s Roma at the AT&T stadium in Dallas, Texas. With full match fitness the main goal of these fixtures, expect Valverde to take a similar approach to the Tottenham game and give the main first team players at least a full half to get up to speed.

Malcom transfer saga

Sure to be at the heart of the discussion, Malcom will feature against the side that thought they had signed him just last week. Last Monday, Roma reached an agreement with Bordeaux for the transfer of Malcom for 36 million euros, however, Bordeaux backtracked on the agreement when they became aware of Barcelona’s interest.

Just as he was about to board a plane to Rome for his medical, his agent informed him of the situation and he opted instead for Barcelona, signing a five-year contract and costing the Catalan club 41 million euros. When he appears on the pitch tonight, do not expect a warm welcome from the Roma faithful in attendance.

Can youth continue to impress?

Despite the two goals Barcelona conceded against Tottenham came when the starting contingent was made up largely of B team players, they were impressive at times and displayed excellent composure during the 5-3 shootout success.

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There is no disputing, however, that the main stars were left-back Juan Miranda and 18-year-old creative play-maker Riqui Puig. Miranda, who only played the first half, was solid in defence and eager to burst forward, playing a brilliant cross field pass to Rafinha in the lead up to the second goal. He put in a much better showing than fellow full-back Marc Cucurella in a bid to be Jordi Alba’s understudy this season, following Lucas Digne’s imminent departure to Everton.

Meanwhile Puig, whose prodigious talents have led Valverde to include him in the first team training drills on tour, donned the number 8 jersey, the first player since Iniesta to do so, and looked right at home carrying this burden. He hardly set a foot wrong all night after replacing André Gomes during the first half and was one of the four B team players to slot his penalty past Spurs ‘keeper Michel Vorm.

Valverde will more than likely give both left-backs a half each again tonight, so watch out for a strong showing as each will look to leave an impression on the coach.

Munir vs Alcácer

Munir was handed his chance to show Valverde what he is capable of against Tottenham, and he made good on it. He was lively in the box, showed good movement and got on to the end of Rafinha’s pass across the face to get on the score sheet.

Now, with Paco Alcácer available following a minor knock, he may be given a similar opportunity and appear at least from the bench tonight, sure to be eager to at least replicate Munir’s performance and notch a goal or two. Alcácer, a talented goal-poacher, has always seemed to impress when given a chance and scored seven goals in 23 games last season while registering four assists, not bad for a backup striker.

With game time up front being limited, there is no room for error and both strikers must be on form to improve their minutes on the pitch this season.