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Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembélé scored against Barcelona in 3-1 win over Gimnastic
Last Updated: 09/12/20 9:23 pm
Barcelona beat Gimnastic with Lionel Messi as captain
Lionel Messi wore the captain’s armband in his first game as he chose to abandon his plans to leave Barcelona in the face of a 3-1 defeat by Gimnastic de Tarragona in a preseason friendly on Saturday.
Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele each made encouraging returns by scoring in Ronald Koeman’s first game in charge, but Luis Suárez and Arturo Vidal were left out of the squad as the club is still trying to unload both players.
French winger Dembélé threw the ball into the net to put Barça ahead in the sixth minute in his first appearance since November 2019, after undergoing surgery to treat a hamstring tear.
Philippe Coutinho hit from the penalty spot in the 3-1 win
Antoine Griezmann added to the Barça lead by converting a penalty in the 16th minute, although defender Javi Bonilla scored a magnificent goal from the edge of the area to deflect Gimnastic in the half hour.
The signing of the club Coutinho got the third goal at 51, also from the penalty spot, making his first outing for the team since he returned on loan from Bayern Munich, with which he scored two goals in the 8-2 win for the last month to Barça in the quarterfinals of the Champions League.
Koeman, who switched his entire squad at halftime by making 11 substitutions, debuted 17-year-old forward Pedri, new signing Francisco Trincao and 19-year-old American forward Konrad de La Fuente, who moved from the club’s substitute side.
Ronald Koeman congratulates his Barça players at the final whistle
Barça will not participate in the first two weekends of the new La Liga season that began on Saturday due to their participation in the ‘Final Eight’ tournament of the Champions League last month.
They will face Girona next Wednesday in another friendly before making their league bow to Villarreal on September 27.
La Liga: Athletic defeated by Granada
Yangel Herrera celebrates his goal in Granada’s victory over Athletic Bilbao
Granada beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 at home on Saturday on the opening day of the La Liga season, starting the new campaign as the previous one had ended.
Venezuelan midfielder Yangel Herrera put Granada ahead early in the second half with a header before Luis Milla doubled his lead with a shot from outside the area.
Surprisingly, coach Gaizka Garitano knocked Athletic’s star Iñaki Williams out of the starting lineup, but the forward came closer to scoring for the visitors when he came off the bench, hitting the crossbar with a knee shot.
Granada had beaten Athletic 4-0 at home in their last game last season to finish seventh in the standings and qualify for the European competition for the first time in their history.
The match was supposed to be the league’s first game on Friday, but less than 48 hours before kick-off it was moved to Saturday after the Spanish soccer federation ruled that matches could not be played on Fridays or Mondays.
Eibar drew 0-0 at home to Celta de Vigo in the first game of the season on Saturday, while Cádiz host Osasuna later.
German Cup: Bundesliga teams advance
Gladbach’s Ramy Bensebaini celebrates his team’s fourth goal
Borussia Monchengladbach, Augsburg and Suburb they enjoyed big victories over lower-league rivals to reserve their spot in the second round of the German Cup on Saturday.
Gladbach warmed up for his first Bundesliga game against Borussia Dortmund next weekend by beating the fourth tier Oberneuland 8-0, Augsburg thrashed the fifth division Eintracht Celle 7-0, and Cologne enjoyed a 6-0 win over the Berlin-based fourth division Altglienicke.
Up to 300 supporters were allowed in each game in Mönchengladbach and Cologne, while there were none in the empty Augsburg stadium.
Union Frstenwalde, from the Northeast Regional League, also gave up their housing rights and were beaten in WolfsburgReserve stadium empty 4-1.
In the meantime, RB Leipzig had little difficulty beating the second division Nuremberg 3-0 away, while Eintracht Frankfurt worked beyond the third division 1860 Munich 2-1.
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