Barça Falls After Defensive Struggles
Xavi’s Men, Less Sharp Than Arsenal, Concede Five Goals in American Tour Debut Oriol Romeu and Gündogan Make Their Debut, Still Lacking Fitness and Adaptation In their first match on American soil, Barcelona, dressed in their white and blue colors, as Joan Laporta likes to say, suffered a defeat against a much more prepared Arsenal. Two of the three new signings made their debut. Gündogan seemed lacking in rhythm, and Oriol Romeu appeared somewhat disoriented. The game started promisingly for Barça as they quickly took the lead in one of their early plays. Abde returned to the club after his loan spell at Osasuna and is determined to secure his spot in the team during the preseason. The Moroccan set up a great play, and Lewandowski scored following Raphinha’s initial shot. However, Arsenal proved to be much better prepared than Barça. Today’s match marked the third game for Mikel Arteta’s team, giving them an advantage in terms of possession and control of the game. Saka equalized quickly after a defensive error from Christensen, and he himself missed a penalty after Araujo’s handball in the box. The Uruguayan defender had to cover the gaps left by Dest, who also returned from loan and faces difficulties to continue with the team due to his persisting defensive deficiencies. Just when Arsenal was dominating, something not seen in the team since Messi’s departure happened – a goal from a direct free-kick. Raphinha scored, albeit with a bit of luck as his shot deflected off Odegaard. The match heated up as an intense friendly, with 24 fouls called and four yellow cards shown. Arsenal managed to equalize again before halftime. Saka gave Marcos Alonso a hard time, and Havertz capitalized on one of his crosses to level the score. Ter Stegen then saved another goal opportunity from Gabriel Jesus. Another match began in the second half as Xavi made eleven changes at halftime. Notable was the presence of Fermín López, a promising player from the club’s reserve team, and Balde at left-back, who recovered from an ankle injury. One of Balde’s plays nearly resulted in a goal following a shot from Dembélé, but it was Arsenal who scored next, with Trossard’s well-placed shot. The English side, who had eight more shots on goal than Barça in the first half (11-3), continued to dominate the second half. Xavi’s team had some counter-attacking opportunities, such as Dembélé hitting the post after a good move by Ansu. The post denied Barça again when Balde’s shot hit the woodwork, shortly before Lamine Yamal entered the field and Trossard tested Iñaki Peña’s goal again. The match saw two more goals in the final minutes, one from each side, by Ferran and Fabio Vieira, securing a well-deserved English victory against a less-prepared Barça. The Catalan team competed, but they must improve, especially in their defensive organization, which was their strength in the previous Liga season, to face Real Madrid in the Dallas Clásico with a fighting chance.
