Barcelona have closed out their preseason tour with a victory, beating Milan 1-0 in Las Vegas before they return home.
The game itself was somewhat eclipsed by Xavi Hernandez’s confirmation that Ousmane Dembele would be leaving for Paris Saint-Germain this summer, but the Barcelona coach would go on to call it their best game of the preseason so far.
It was their second clean sheet, although their first against Real Madrid was rather fortunate. There was much more control of the match for Barcelona, with Pedri, Fermin Lopez and Oriol Romeu combining behind a front three with Ez Abde on the left, Ferran Torres through the middle and Raphinha out wide. Dembele did not play ahead of his move, and neither did Franck Kessie.
The latter cracked a shot in that was well-saved in the first half by Mike Maignan. Earlier Jules Kounde had struck the post from a loose corner.
Meanwhile Milan did bring a decent save out of Inaki Pena early on, and then again through Rafael Leao. Tijani Reijnders also saw a wicked ball in go untouched.
In the second half, Milan had just one clear chance as they shanked a pull-back wide. Just ten minutes into the second period, one of Xavi’s five changes Ansu Fati cut inside and fired an effort into the top corner, reminding fans of his best.
Ronald Araujo headed in a second, but was deemed offside ten minutes there after. The final 20 minutes saw Barcelona able to play on the break, with 16-year-old Lamine Yamal and Alejandro Balde causing havoc.
In the final minutes, youngsters Marc Casado, Aleix Garrido, Alex Valle and Mikayil Faye all got minutes before Barcelona returned home.
They will come up against Tottenham Hotspur in the Joan Gamper trophy in a week’s time, five days ahead of their La Liga match against Getafe.
A fantastic goal from ansu last night plus he was looking fast and sharp very much like the ansu fati we all know and love keep it up ansu.