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| Barcelona celebrate against Tottenham |
After much wait and anticipation, FC Barcelona finally returned to action in the early hours of Sunday morning as they played out a 2-2 draw against English Giants Tottenham Hotspurs in their first game of their 2018 US Tour for the International Champions Cup. The Catalan went on to win on penalties after a magnificent display throughout the entire 90 minutes.
Coach Ernesto Valverde started new signings Arthur Melo and Clement Lenglet and the Catalan Giants started great despite Spurs early press but then midfielder Arthur Melo took control of the game in the first half and Barca had a magnificent performance in the first half with goals from Munir El Haddadi and Arthur himself giving the Blaugranas a comfortable 2-0 lead at halftime.
A beautiful pass from Sergi Roberto set up Rafinha who headed a pass down for Munir to tap in the opener in 15 minutes. But then Arthur got a debut goal and the goal of the game 15 minutes later as he scored a screamer from outside the box to make it 2-0. A beautiful pass from young left back Juan Miranda set up Rafinha on the wing and the Brazilian set up his fellow countryman to fire in a bullet from outside the box to put Barca 2-0 ahead at Halftime. A dominating display.
All 10 outfield players were taken off in the second half with Valverde introducing 10 youths and new signings Malcom who had a very lively display. Tottenham had a better performance in the second half but the Barcelona kids left by midfield maestro Riqui Puig took control of the game. However, two poor defensive mistakes meant Spurs would score twice in two minutes to make it 2-2 as Son and Nkoudou found the back of the net.
Spurs looked the more dangerous team but Barca held on to the 2-2 and it finally went to penalty shootout. All five Barca players scored their spot kicks with Malcom getting the winner while Jasper Cillessen made a save to give Barca the 5-3 penalty win. It’s a good start to the 2018-2019 season.
