Lionel Messi scored twice on his return to action as Barcelona ran out 3-1 victors over Segunda side Girona in a pre-season friendly.
Philippe Coutinho also netted for Ronald Koeman’s side, who deployed a 4-2-3-1 formation with Antoine Griezmann and new signing Francisco Trincao also featuring in a new-look attack.
Coutinho opened the scoring for the Blaugrana in the 21st minute before Messi scored either side of the break, while Samu Saiz netted for Girona.
O GOLAÇO DE MESSI 🚀🐐 pic.twitter.com/JDY3YnfHMx
— Messi Brasil (@PortalMessi) September 16, 2020
Frenkie de Jong and Sergio Busquets were in a midfield two with goalkeeper Neto selected in place of Marc-Andre Ter Stegen, with Ronald Araujo partnering Gerard Pique in the heart of defence.
It was the team’s second pre-season friendly ahead of their 2020/21 campaign getting underway, following the weekend win over Gimnastic – another side from Catalonia.
Barcelona will conclude their pre-season with this weekend’s clash against Elche in the Joan Gamper trophy before getting their La Liga campaign underway against Villarreal the following week.
