Triangular tournaments return to modern football, a nineties format that Barça hadn’t tasted for 24 years and that yesterday allowed them to distribute minutes and continue fine-tuning many of their players. The test, of a higher level this time, consisted of two 45-minute matches against strong opponents. First, they defeated the revived English Nottingham Forest with a penalty caused by Fermín and converted by Raphinha. Both were the best news of the night. Then, against the always competitive and host Udinese, they suffered an inconsequential defeat. The locals took the Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup after having beaten (1-0) Nottingham in the first match.
The courage to promote, bet on, and develop young players remains the hallmark of this Barça. Again, in a preseason marked by the absences of first-team players, boys with as much talent as ambition step up in matches that by age do not belong to them.
That was what happened in the second match of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup where Barça faced Udinese, and which had nothing to do with the first as it was a complete monologue by Flick’s team.
The blaugranas monopolized possession despite having more reserve team players than first-team players, and the Italian team focused on protecting themselves in their own half and looking for counterattacks. On several occasions Barça tried with long shots, but it was Udinese who found the goal in the last minute of the match in a run by Bayo.
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Balde returned after an injury and the Belgian Bisiwu debuted, more willing than accurate on his first day. Barça lacked accuracy in the final pass and their monologue did not go beyond a hypnosis exercise. Flick finished with ten very young players, a new opportunity for many of them to convince the coach.
Barça lineup
Played Szczesny, Espart, Christensen, Gerard Martín, Pesquer, Bernal, Fariñas, Tunkara, Adeyemi, Hamza, and Kluivert. Entered at minute 16 Balde, Fort, Cortés, Bisiwu, and Goren. At 27 entered Guille F., Toni F., and Marqués.
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