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Ronald Koeman’s Barcelona showed a good image this Saturday in the pre-season premiere, against Nástic de Tarragona, Second Division B, which they defeated 3-1 with goals from Dembélé, Griezmann and Coutinho, the latter two from penalties . The goal from Tarragona was the work of Javier Bonilla.
The Dutch coach put on the grass of the Johan Cruyff stadium a totally different eleven in the first half compared to the second, but the two had a common denominator of the 4-2-3-1 game system.
In the first 45 minutes ‘Pedri’, who showed exciting details in his first game with Barcelona, was in charge of acting as a forward midfielder and in the seconds the chosen one was Coutinho, who returned to play with the Catalan team after his victorious loan transfer. Bayern Munich.
The match began with Barcelona having control of the ball and with an intense Nástic de Tarragona that tried to close the spaces originated in its defensive axis thanks to the dynamism of the Barça players. But they did not succeed and the goals made an appearance by Barcelona.
Dembélé defined with the right against Wilfred (min. 5) when getting rid with a subtle touch of Albarrán after a pass from Sergi Roberto that ‘Pedri’ let pass with great intelligence. And Griezmann converted into a goal a penalty (min. 17) committed by Ribelles on Gerard Piqué at the exit of a corner.
The response from Nástic de Tarragona was not long in coming thanks to Amang, who executed a shot with his right leg that licked the left stick of Neto’s goal (min. 18). It was the prelude to the goal, the author of which was Javier Bonilla (min.30) with a powerful shot and placed from outside the area with his left leg.
Little decisive was the participation of Leo Messi in his first game after the burofax to announce his intention to leave Barcelona and the subsequent interview in which he explained that he was staying so as not to take the club of his life to court. The Argentine player did not arrive in danger to the Tarragona area and his most outstanding action was to give the penalty kick to Griezmann.
The second half began with a shot on goal by Martin Braithwaite to a pass from Frenkie de Jong that Wilfred stopped ‘in extremis’ (min. 47). A little later came Coutinho’s goal from a penalty (min. 51), whistled by the hands of Joan Oriol. Less than a month ago the Brazilian scored two goals against Barcelona with the Bayern jersey in the sultry 2-8 in Lisbon.
From there, the scoreboard did not move again despite the fact that Trincao, author of individual plays of merit, Coutinho, Konrad and Braithwaite managed to combine dangerously in attack on several occasions. One of them (min. 87) was originated by Coutinho with an excellent pass to Konrad that neither he nor Braithwaite in the second instance were able to convert into a goal.
Nàstic de Tarragona’s only chance of danger in the second half was a header from Grifell (min. 80) that went over the crossbar.
Neither Luis Suárez nor Arturo Vidal, who Koeman does not have, nor Rafinha, Wagué and Matheus Fernandes from the first team players, were summoned for the game. Neither Pjanic and Todibo, who just today Saturday did their first training after overcoming the coronavirus, neither did Ter Stegen and Umtiti, injured.
Barcelona will continue to get ready on Wednesday at noon at the same venue, the Johan Cruyff stadium, against LaLiga SmartBank Girona.
