3 takeaways from Barcelona vs AC Milan

Barcelona rounded off their pre-season tour of the United States with a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan.

In what has been a cruel pre-season for Barcelona, they again succumbed to defeat in a game that they largely dominated and performed well in. From the off, they pinned AC Milan back in their own half, dominated possession and had numerous chances to take the lead, although none were taken, and Milan punished.

Just as the game seemed destined for a penalty shootout, Franck Kessié’s wonderful footwork allowed him to find André Silva in space, who calmly finished past the returning Ter Stegen. Again, despite the result, Ernesto Valverde has a lot of positives to take back to Barcelona as they play their first competitive game next Sunday.

A star is born

While some players can be over hyped and go on to have a disappointing career, just look at Martín Montoya, one would have to imagine Riqui Puig will not fall under that category. He again wore the Blaugrana strip last night, and Andrés Iniesta’s number eight jersey, while not portraying an ounce of pressure, and has surely put coach Valverde on notice.

He was extremely comfortable carrying the ball, played every pass with conviction, and came close to scoring from a corner as the ball skewed off his heel. If Barcelona are looking for Iniesta’s successor, they have surely just found him.

Puig’s performance also caught the attention of the opposition’s head coach, Gennaro Gattuso, who went on to praise the young prodigy, labelling him “a spectacle” and stating that he is “a bit jealous of their (Barca’s) school”. High praise for the 18-year-old from a former World Cup winning midfielder.

Despite Arturo Vidal’s arrival, and Rakitic still taking up a first team spot, these players are both over 30 years of age, so with performances like these, the future is indeed bright for the likes of Oriol Busquets, Carles Aleñá and Riqui Puig.

Miranda surely secured his spot

Although nothing is set in stone, Valverde gave a strong indicator last night in regards to who will be the second choice left-back for the season. Amidst fierce competition between Juan Miranda and Marc Cucurella, Valverde started Miranda, but did not substitute him out to give Cucurella an opportunity.

After two shaky performances from Cucurella, it makes sense to send him back down to the B team for one more season. It appeared during last season that Cucurella was almost a guarantee to take the baton from Jordi Alba, but Miranda is the more mature and more importantly, the more complete of the two.

Both are composed on the ball and like to get forward, but Miranda offers that bit more defensive resilience. He was excellent against Spurs, but after a lacklustre showing against Roma, he has seemingly restored faith in the coach.

However, Valverde can not let Miranda follow in Montoya’s footsteps. Montoya’s misfortune was largely put down to his stall in developing, as he was, for the most part, kept on the bench in favour of Dani Alves. While no one would bat an eye at Miranda being left out of the squad against opposition of Real Madrid’s calibre, would there be anything to lose giving him much-needed game time say, at home against lower opposition? Surely not.

First-team falling in to place

Again, Valverde will surely be pleased with what he has seen from the first team stars that were on show. He has gained valuable information on certain players and has surely worked out the future of one or two as well.

Firstly, Rafinha must be kept and given a chance. Last season, he was confined to the bench, sometimes left out of the squad altogether, and was forced out on loan to Inter Milan. But there can be no disputing his talents now, scoring one and assisting twice in three pre-season games. He has also shown he is comfortable deputising on the right-wing, or in a more central role.

Another player whose future is up in the air, Paco Alcácer, will surely be sold by Barcelona this summer, especially after that dire performance last night. To give him some leeway, he has just returned from a knock, but even still, his movement was almost non-existent and he hardly touched the ball in the first half. Valverde replacing him at the break with an 18-year-old is surely a hint that he should start looking for potential suitors.

Finally, another pair of performances for Valverde to take in to consideration was that of both Sergi Roberto and Nélson Semedo. While the pair spent last season trying to wrestle the right-back slot away from each other, Roberto showed last night that he is capable of playing the Busquets role in front of the defence, whereas Semedo seems to be a lot more settled in his second season on the right flank. Keep an eye on the game time each player gets this season, and where Sergi Roberto is deployed.