Barcelona and Manchester City drew 2-2 on Tuesday in a friendly match played in Orlando for the Soccer Champions Tour, in which the Catalans made the difference on penalties (4-1). Pau Victor and Pablo Torre scored for the Blaugrana, while Nico O’Reilly and Jack Grealish did the same for the Citizens in the 90th minute.
The main focus was, however, Hansi Flick. The German coach was in charge of his first match in charge of the Catalans’ first team, with important absences due to the Euro Cup and the Copa America, such as Lamine Yamal, for example. The only ‘heavyweights’ that the coach counted on were Lenglet (starter), and Lewandowski and Alejandro Balde, who he preferred to preserve and give minutes in the second half. The rest of the starting 11 was chosen mainly from among the youngsters and promises of Barca.
The Citizens, on the other hand, had the better team from the start. Ederson, Josko Gvardiol, Mateo Kovacic, Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland were five very recognisable names who took to the pitch at the Camping World Stadium to seek their first win in pre-season, although without success. Guardiola’s men had already made their debut against Celtic (4-3 defeat) and Milan (3-2 loss).
And despite being favourites, it was the Catalans who struck first. In the 23rd minute, a delightful assist from Marc Casadó put Pau Victor one-on-one with Ederson, and the striker finished perfectly in front of the Brazilian. 1-0.
However, in the 39th minute it was O’Reilly who would equalise. Gvardiol found him in the Barcelona box, assisted him and the midfielder finished with his left foot to make it 1-1.
At the end of the first half, a great collective play by the Catalans found Pablo Torre on the penalty spot, who fired a right-footed cross that Ederson could not stop and sealed the advantage at half-time for the Spanish team. However, Grealish’s imbalance would be too much for Flick’s defence. The number 10 faced the full-back on the right one-on-one, surprised by coming out with his left foot and put it in the corner, out of the goalkeeper’s reach.
The match went to penalties, where City had an erratic start. Kalvin Phillips and Jacob Wright were the stars of the match against goalkeeper Ander Astralaga, who blocked both of his shots and decided the series, which ended with a final score of 4-1 thanks to the precise execution of the Catalans.
