Barcelona have finished their preseason tour of Asia with a perfect record thanks to a dominant 5-0 win over Daegu FC in the third and final game of the tour in Daegu, South Korea on Monday. Barça fully dominated the entire match and played perhaps their best game of the tour with and without the ball, with plenty of reserves and youngsters impressive again and Gavi shining in the first half as the Catalans continue to make progress in their preparations for the new season.
FIRST HALF
Barça were facing in theory the weakest opponent of the tour, so Hansi Flick decided to mix some of his usual starters with a couple of reserves and youngsters like Gerard Martín at center-back and a surprise start for young Dro Fernández to give his team a different look.
Daegu had a couple of dangerous attacks early on trying to get in behind the Barça defense but were caught by the Blaugrana offside trap, and after just 10 minutes the Catalans were in full control, dominating the ball completely and easily finding spaces inside the Daegu defense.
Barça created big chance after big chance seemingly every time they attacked, and every forward had at least one or two big opportunities: Lamine Yamal missed a few, Raphinha came very close twice, and Dro couldn’t sort his feet out inside the box and ended up missing a potential tap-in.
But the Blaugrana attack was so good, with such good passing and movement, that they eventually found the net enough times: the first goal was a sweet strike from distance from Gavi, the second was an easy tap-in for Robert Lewandowski after a nice run and assist by Martín, and Gavi doubled his tally on the night with a gorgeous chip over the keeper thanks to a nice assist by Jules Kounde.
The halftime whistle came to end a very comfortable period for Barça, who were up three goals but could have very easily scored six or seven and were poised to keep adding to the lead in the second half.
SECOND HALF
Flick went with another nice mix of starters, reserves and teenagers to start the second half, with Pedri as captain, youngsters Roony Bardghji and Toni Fernández on the wings, and Marcus Rashford playing his first minutes at the striker spot.
Dani Olmo was the number 10, and he was involved early and often in several excellent passing sequences, including the one that led to Barça’s fourth goal as he made a one-two with Rashford and immediately slipped it through to Toni, who was all alone inside the box and found the bottom corner with a nice finish to score his first goal of the tour.
The second half lineup continued to play with the continuity and passing quality of the first half team, and created more easy scoring chances that they converted: the fifth goal came shortly after the hour mark, thanks to a nice assist by Eric García and a powerful finish by Rashford for his first Barça goal.
The Catalans continued to cruise and create good chances, and we were headed for a fun, smooth finish before a worrying scene: Pau Cubarsí went down with a left leg injury and had to be replaced by Héctor Fort with three minutes to go, and his status is now one to watch with less than two weeks to go until the league opener.
The final whistle to came to end an easy and comfortable win for Barça, who played some strong attacking stuff throughout the night and could have easily scored nine or ten on the night.
The Cubarsí injury is the only bad news in what was otherwise a very good night for the Blaugrana, who end preseason with three wins from three and quite a few impressive performances from several youngsters and reserves who are showing their worth with the start of season rapidly approaching.
Well done, boys!
Daegu: Oh; Hwang, Woo, Kim, Jang; Geovani, Kim, Jung, Jeong; Lamas, Cesinha
Goals: None
Barcelona 1H: Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Martín, Balde; De Jong, Gavi; Yamal, Dro, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Barcelona 2H: Szczesny (Kochen 74’); Eric, Cubarsí (Fort 88’), Christensen, Jofre; Casadó, Pedri; Bardghji, Olmo, Toni; Rashford
Goals: Gavi (21’, 45+2’), Lewandowski (27’), Toni (54’), Rashford (65’)
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