The third game of our pre season. And the second game of our US tour sees Barcelona come up against another strong team- Juventus. We’re unbeaten so far in pre season after a 1-1 draw against fellow Catalan side Olot. That was then followed up by a 6-0 demolition job on David Beckham’s Inter Miami. And most recently a 1-0 win over our eternal Rivals, Real Madrid. We’ll be hoping to follow up with another impressive result tonight against Juve.
Positive signs:
Of course it is only pre season. And I guess we can’t look to much into how we’ve been playing. We don’t want to get carried away with ourselves just yet. But there is no denying that we are growing in each and every game. What is great about this particular tour is that we are being put up against very strong teams. Testing us from the very beginning which should hold us in good stead for the start of the season. Not only that, but due to the difficulty of our opponents, it’s encouraging us to get into the winning mindset early on.
Players that have Impressed:
We’ve been able to also witness a lot of our new signings. Aswell as some of our reserve players. Which for me, is the most exciting part of any pre season tour. There have been so many players that have impressed so far. Among those who I feel have impressed the most would be Nico Gonzalez, Alejandro Balde, Raphinha and Christensen. Nico has been brilliant in the Busquets position. And is proving that his replacement might be a lot closer to home than everyone thought. Christensen has adapted really well to the team and has been rock solid so far. Same goes for Balde who has given Alba some good completion. Raphinha has started his career at Barça in an exceptional way. 2 goals and 2 assists in just over 90 minutes of football.
We’ll all be looking forward to seeing them, and the rest of the team too. Especially, Robert Lewandowski. It still hasn’t sucked in yet that he’s a Barça player. So it’ll be exciting to see him play again.
Predicted Lineup:
Xavi has said himself that names don’t matter. The only thing that matters is how each individual performs. We’ve got incredible competition in pretty much every part of the team right now. Which will only encourage the players to work th their maximum. It’s something that we’ve been missing at this club for a long time. And as a result, the lineup predictions will be a lot less…predictable.
Below is my guess at what Xavi will line up with. Let us know in the comments what your ideal lineup would be!
My Prediction:
Ter Stegen- Dest- Araujo- Christensen- Alba- Pedri- Kessie- Nico- Ansu- Lewandowski- Raphinha
