Barcelona drew their penultimate pre-season friendly in the United States 2-2 with Italian giants Juventus. The game, played at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Texas, was dominated by Barcelona.
Ousmane Dembele scored the opening goal of the game in the 34th minute before Moise Kean equalised for Juventus five minutes later. Just a minute after that Dembele struck back to make it 2-1 only for Kean to equalise again in the 51st minute.
Barcelona dominated 59% of the possession, completed 501 passes and rained 20 shots on Juventus’ goal. If they can continue to perform in that manner when the real football begins they’ll quickly become one of La Liga’s most entertaining sides.
Barcelona play their final pre-season friendly against New York Red Bulls on Saturday evening before returning to Europe to play the final of the Joan Gamper against Mexican outfit Pumas at Camp Nou. La Liga begins against Rayo Vallecano on August 13th.
Speaking after the game, Xavi Hernandez touched on the future of several of Barcelona’s fringe players, including USMNT international Sergino Dest. “He’s fast and defends well,” he said. “He’s a good player, still young and important for the future.”
He also spoke about Miralem Pjanic, who joined Barcelona from Juventus in the summer of 2020 but has failed to make much of a mark at Camp Nou and spent last season on loan at Besiktas.
But Xavi has used him during pre-season. “Pjanic? I like him a lot,” he said. “He’s a great player with unique vision. We’ll see what happens from here to the end of the market.”
Barça manager Xavi confirms plans to keep Dest: “He’s fast and defends well. He’s good player, still young and important for the future”. 🔴 #FCB
“Pjanić? I liked him a lot, he’s great player with unique vision. We will see what happens from here to the end of the market”. pic.twitter.com/8aZzFdrzdS
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) July 27, 2022
The really work hard on the first 45 minutes. I encourage them more.