Barcelona could with Juventus (3-0) and with the shadow of Leo Messi in the first Joan Gamper Trophy without the Argentine, longed for by a crowd that chanted his name and for a dressing room that remembered him in the pre-match parliaments.
Once the ball rolled, Barça’s first goal came in the first Barça attack. A triangulation at minute 3 between Braithwaite, Demir and Memphis Savings The Dutchman took advantage of it to break only through the center of the defense and wisely beat Sczesny in hand-to-hand.
Everything seemed joy after so much culé, with the fans, finally back in the stadium, cheering every good deed of their players, who were very mobile, wasting verticality and the desire to be liked.
Still in that arreón of happiness, Dest perked up in the 7th minute from outside the area, but his shot did not find the sticks of the Italian frame.
The rejoicing was quickly forgotten when in the 10th minute the crowd, who had whistled Pjanic already Umtiti In the presentation, he chanted the name of the great absentee, Leo Messi, in homage to the Argentine’s number.
Juventus took advantage of the melancholy to stretch with the ball and braid several long possessions. Ronaldo sought to crown the improvement of his team at the quarter hour of the game with a shot without an angle that Neto cleared somewhat in a hurry.
The worst of Barça was seen in the slow defensive transitions, but Morata’s little mettle prevented two cons from going to more. Griezmann was not right either in the 20th, as the Frenchman’s offside position at the time of kicking invalidated Demir’s subsequent goal, which had pushed the rebound.
The young Austrian touched the goal again in the 29th minute thanks to a great individual play that culminated in a low and dry shot, repelled by the left boot of Szczesny.
The Polish goalkeeper was saved from conceding the second in 37 due to a referee error. The assistant pointed out a non-existent offside to Braitwhaite and rHe omitted the illusions of Griezmann, that had managed to beat the transalpine door.
If then Juventus was saved, a minute later Barça was saved in a crazy end of the first half, when Neto managed to repel two very clear attempts from within the area, one from De Ligt and the other from Morata.
The Spaniard was able to tie again two minutes before halftime and again ran into the Barça goalkeeper, who denied him the goal at the end of a great choral counterattack, as he also did at 45 to a free kick from Ronaldo.
The second half was born colder, a carousel of changes in the Jventus through, until in the 50 the newly incorporated Chiesa He returned to try Neto, grown after his good interventions in the first act.
The Turin team put Barcelona in trouble for several minutes, especially in speedy starts and corner kicks, always finished off against the Barça defense.
Paradoxically, Barça doubled their advantage in the 57th minute from the corner kick. Braitwhaite, all conviction, sent a Memphis center into the net with a very strong header.
Game time has arrived, Koeman He moved the bench to make his debut for Emerson and give entry to Nico González and Umtiti, booed insistently, while Allegri finished changing the eleven completely.
The stoppage of the changes was good for the Catalans, determined to regain control, and at the same time it calmed the spirits of the Italian team.
Griezmann took the leading role and tried to involve both the youngsters and the newcomer Emerson, nervous in his first bars as a Barça player.
The other Barça winger, Memphis Depay, He had another good chance in the 78th minute when he impaled a ball rained from a series of rebounds from the penalty spot. The shot, forced, hit the doll.
When the game died and the echoes of new songs to Messi sounded, Riqui Puig put, in the last play, the finishing touch to the Gamper with a third goal from the edge of the area.
– Datasheet:
3 – Barcelona: Neto; Dest (Emerson, min.61), Piqué, Araújo (Umtiti, min.61), Jordi Alba (Balde, min.76); Sergi Roberto (Riqui Puig, min.76), Busquets, Demir (Nico González, min.61); Griezmann (Collado, min.86), Memphis Depay and Braithwaite (Rey Manaj, mi.78).
0 – Juventus: Szczesny (Mattia Perin, min.45); De Sciglio (De Winter, min.80), De Ligt (Bonucci, min.61), Rugani (Chiellini, min.61), Alex Sandro (Pellegrini, min.45); Ramsey (Church, min.45), Bentancur (Danilo, min.45), Bernardeschi (Ranocchia, min.61); Cuadrado (McKennie, min.45), Morata (Marqués, min.61) y Cristiano Ronaldo (Kulusevski, min.45).
Goals: 1-0: Memphis Depay, min. 3. 2-0: Braitwhaite, min. 57. 3-0: Riqui Puig, min. 92.
Referee: Soto Grado (Castellanomanchego College). He admonished the local Braithwaite (min. 35) and the visitor McKennie (min. 55).
Incidents: Friendly match corresponding to the Joan Gamper Trophy played at the Johan Cruyff stadium.
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