Amid a media frenzy surrounding club captain, Lionel Messi, Barcelona took to the pitch tonight to face Red Bull Salzburg in Austria as part of their pre-season schedule. Both sides are focusing on improving fitness levels and embedding new signings into their respective teams. As they say, practice makes perfect.
FC Barcelona V Red Bull Salzburg in Pre-Season
Chance for New Players
In their previous outing, Barcelona beat Stuttgart 3-0 with new signing Memphis Depay staring, whilst Salzburg ran out 7-1 victors against SV Ried. Barcelona boss, Ronald Koeman, was looking to use their pre-season fixture as an opportunity to showcase a blend of youth prospects and more established first-team players.
Nico and Gavi, who were promoted to the first team from the Barcelona ‘B’ team, got the nod to start the game and show boss, Ronald Koeman, what impact they could have on the side in this pressure-free environment. The starting line-up also featured the likes of Busquets, Griezmann, De Jong, and Memphis Depay; who kept his place following a debut goal last time out.
Slack Start in Salzburg
Early on in the first half, Ronald Araujo, Barcelona’s Uruguayan centre-half came close with a header in the opening ten minutes. Following on from that, they looked rather lost in Salzburg’s sea of red bodies.
Jordi Alba nearly gave the lead away from a soft back-pass to Neto but they were let off the hook. Their luck soon ran out, after 18-year-old Luka Sucic’s perfectly hit strike off a bouncing ball outside the box flew into the net. Barcelona went into the break one down and without a shot on target. It soon became clear that fresh legs were needed to try and spark life into Koeman’s side.
Work to Do for Barcelona
The second half started off in a steady manner, both sides made wholesale changes around the hour-mark. Noticeably for Barcelona, Samuel Umtiti came on, building on his return from a long spell on the sidelines with injury.
Fans of Barcelona will be happy in seeing the positive approach that their side took; finally registering shots on target and looking more urgent in their build-up play. Alongside their improved attack, Barcelona were more comfortable in possession and used this to add pressure to the Salzburg defensive line.
Barcelona finally equalised, through a deflected effort off of Martin Braithwaite; who looks destined to leave the club this summer. The game was not settled, however, as Salzburg went against the pattern of the second-half and snatched a late winner with their American midfielder, Brendan Aaronson. The game will show Barcelona the work that needs to be done in the next days before the La Liga campaign starts against Real Sociedad at the Camp Nou on August 15.
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