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| FC Barcelona 4-2 Leicester City: International Champions Cup 2016 |
FC Barcelona continued their preseason campaign with a 4-2 win over English Champions Leicester City at the Friends Arena, Stockholm in their International Champions Cup encounter with goals from Munir El Haddadi, Luis Suarez and Mujica making it two wins from two for the Catalans this preseason.
There was no major change to the starting lineup vs Celtic by Luis Enrique with the only difference being Marlon starting at central defence in place of Jose Antonio Martinez whose blunder in defence led to Celtic equalizing on Saturday.
Barça dominated the game from the first minute and could have gotten the first goal as early as the 2nd minute but Denis Suarez shot his chance straight Zieler with the follow up from Suarez called off for offside.
The domination continued with Barça coming close to scoring minutes later after Lionel Messi did well to create space with a sublime run and set up Munir El Haddadi on the left, but the young striker fired his shot over the bar when he could’ve done much better.
After much good football from both sides, the first goal of the game did come from Barça on the 26th minute. Lionel Messi picked the ball outside the box and fed Munir El Haddadi on the left with a sublime through ball. The young striker did well to reach the ball before his marker before coolly slotting it in with his left foot to the bottom right corner, beating the goalkeeper.
Luis Suarez came close to scoring the second just after half an hour but denied Arda Turan an assist as he failed to. The Uruguayan striker made amends moments later as he did well to make it 2-0 on 34 minutes. Lionel Messi was once again involved, sending a beautiful lobbed pass to find Suarez on the right who beat two defenders and slotted the ball past Zieler. Barça in total control.
Leicester improved after the second goal and came close twice to pulling one back before halftime, Barça however still had control over the game and Munir scored his second of the game and Barça’s third on the stroke of halftime.
Lionel Messi did well to carry the ball in counter attack before feeding Luis Suarez on the right, the number 9 unleashed a beautiful long pass to split Leicester’s defence and set up Munir who controlled the ball well and finishing past Zieler, it was the last kick of the first half and Barça go into the next 45 with a 3-0 lead against the Champions of England.
The second half started with Luis Enrique making changes, young defender Marlon was replaced by Javier Mascherano and Sergio Busquets came on for right back Aleix Vidal which meant Sergi Roberto switched from the defensive midfield to right back.
It didn’t take long for Leicester City to pull one back as Nigerian striker Ahmed Musa did well to get the ball in Barça’s half, sprinting clear past Sergi Roberto before slotting home to make it 3-1 three minutes into the second half.
Leicester improved very well in the second half, however, it was Barça who came closer to scoring again and once again, Messi was involved. The star did well to assist Munir for his hattrick but the young striker opted for passing the ball to Suarez instead of shooting.
Barça slowed than the pace, Lionel Messi and Arda Turan came off for Carles Alena and Sergi Samper later in the second half and shortly after, Ahmed Musa grabbed his second of the game to make it 3-2 courtesy of a superb strike from inside the box after defender Camara carelessly lost the ball on 66 minutes.
Barça made a host of substitutions to end the game, giving the youngsters minutes. Jose Suarez, Nilli, Martinez, Carbonell, Mujica and Alfaro came on for Luis Suarez, Denis Suarez, Masip, Mathieu, Camara and Munir.
There was not much action after Leicester’s second goal until Barça’s 17-year old striker Mujica killed the game off and ended the Foxes’ hope of a comeback with a left footed strike on 83 minutes to make it 4-2.
The game ended that way and Barça will be happy getting the win despite it being a friendly game. They now prepare for their next match against Liverpool at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday.
