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Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembélé scored in Barcelona’s 3-1 victory over Gimnastic de Tarragona in a pre-season friendly.
Lionel Messi wore the captain’s armband in his first game as he chose to abandon his plans to leave Barça, although Luis Suárez and Arturo Vidal were left out of the call as the club continues to try 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.
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.
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.
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