An El Clasico is serious, preseason or not.
Both Barca and Real Madrid came into the preseason match with the same mindset, each hoping to walk away with preseason glory until the two meet again during the league season.
So how did the match turn out?
Let’s find out.
First half
The first half was a bit of a balance between Barca asserting their dominance and Real Madrid asserting their own.
Early on, it was Barca who found the best ways control possession. And although they didn’t create an overwhelming amount of chances from these spells of possession, the signs were positive nonetheless.
Those signs transitioned into real time results just 15 minutes into the match, when Barca were awarded a free kick in a positive area. But instead of someone taking the shot, a pretty set piece was put on display instead.
Dembélé with a cracking goal
It was a beautiful set piece to give Dembélé his goal.
The initial action was a pass to Pedri, who stood at the top of Madrid’s penalty area. After he received the past, he waited for Dembele to streak down the right flank, before firing a beautifully weighted pass for the Frenchman.
After Dembele received the ball, he took a few touches, then fired a powerful right footed effort past the outstretched hands of Thibaut Courtois.
Big props to Oriol Romeu, who set a bit of a screen on Camavinga so Pedri’s pass could get through. Without that, Pedri’s pass would’ve been at risk, potentially disrupting the goal scoring chance all together.
Either way, a pretty sequence and a good looking goal by Barca to open the match.
After the goal
However, Barca’s joy appeared to be short lived. Because just some time later, Real Madrid were awarded a penalty. This time due to a handball from Ronald Araujo, his second penalty in just two preseason matches.
But in the end, Barca got the last laugh due to the ensuing Vinicius Jr. penalty ringing off the top of the crossbar. After this though, Madrid remained on the front foot. They ringed a couple of shots off the post, signaling to Barca that their own offensive wasn’t dead just yet.
Barca survived their rivals’ onslaught though, getting to halftime with a slim 1-0 lead.
Besides the good football being played, it was a chaotic first half full of intensity, perhaps a little too much intensity. Harsh challenges were made, many bookings were revealed, and even a scrum began after a very rough challenge from Frenkie De Jong.
It’s safe to say the first half was full of fireworks, wouldn’t you say?
On to the second half we went though, as Barca looked to maintain their lead and walk away with a heated preseason win. Would they be able to do it?
Yes, but in a very interesting way.
Second half
The second half was a bit of a lull, with Barca controlling the game for some time into the middle to latter stages of the second frame.
Chances weren’t able to be created as often like in the first half, but it was still good to see Barca’s midfield rounding into shape and putting in a very decent shift on both ends of the pitch.
However, the real action didn’t occur until the late stages of the full 90 minutes, when a certain academy product fired Barca into certain winning territory against their historical rivals.
Fermin Lopez, take a bow
In the 84th minute, Barca were able to win the ball back in Madrid’s defensive third. The ball fell to academy product Fermin Lopez, who has garnered a lot of attention because of his seemingly out of nowhere ascension this preseason.
Lopez found some time to scan his options, before firing a beautiful shot into the top left corner. It was 2-0 Barca, but more importantly, it was the moment of a lifetime for Lopez.
The youngster was on loan at Linares last season and he made the very best of that spell, improving mightily according to reports in Spain. Because of that, he was given an invite to train with the first team when preseason first began.
He began to impress Xavi during that time, so much so that Xavi invited Lopez to join the first team for their preseason tour in America. He got some minutes against Arsenal, which was somewhat surprising even after he reportedly found a way to significantly impress Xavi.
But I guess now it isn’t so surprising, because the young player has rewarded Xavi for believing in him.
You love to see moments like these from young players, especially ones that had to work extremely hard to receive these opportunities in the first place. Now you can only hope he finds a way to keep this momentum up, especially now that he’s going to compete for game time within the squad.
But he’s gotten this far, so maybe doing that won’t be too impossible either.
Lopez’s goal wasn’t the end for him though. He supplied a pretty assist that gave Barca their third goal of the match.
Not a bad finish by Ferran Torres either.
With that, the match ended in a 3-0 win for Barca.
Final word
I mean, what a fun match for Barca fans.
We got a bit of everything. From the heated El Clasico physicality, some heart stopping moments, and some heartwarming moments as well. We can on;y hope future El Clasico’s are as fun as this one was.
Before we go, we do have some notes from the match. Good performance from Oriol Romeu tonight, really showed why Barca were interested in him as the summer went along. He isn’t an outright Sergio Busquets replacement, but he doesn’t need to be as shown today/tonight.
Frenkie De Jong’s play was very impressive as well. His progression and maestro like ability were on full display, which made for a fun watching experience. He even showed his first bit of leadership as a Barca captain, standing up for him squad during a moment of chaos.
Good stuff there.
Some notable exclusions from the action were Franck Kessie, who is still rumored to have chances to leave the club. We don’t know what’ll happen with him, but him not getting game action today/tonight was a bit telling.
Still not debut for Mikayil Faye, but you can probably bet on him getting his special moment against AC Milan. Also, Ez Abde didn’t get playing time until late in the match, this after his wonderful cameo against Arsenal earlier in the week.
No conclusions to draw there, as Xavi opted for the box midfield. It’ll be interesting to see if Xavi opts more for his regular 4-3-3 though moving forward.
Barca’s next match
Barca’s next match will be on Tuesday night/moring against AC Milan in Las Vegas.
See you all then!
I’ve been a big time Barca fan since I was 14 years old. I love the club, the history, and the tradition that the club has built over its prestigious history. Forca Barca!
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