Barca beats El Clasico rivals in USA tour

Barcelona continued their pre-season tour of the USA with a 3-0 win over Real Madrid in Arlington, Texas.

Ousmane Dembele’s early goal was followed up by late strikes from Fermin Lopez and Ferran Torres.

New signing Jude Bellingham played for Barca’s El Clasico rivals Real and the England midfielder’s header was one of five Real efforts that struck the woodwork at the AT&T Stadium.

“The result is a bit misleading,” said Barca coach Xavi Hernandez.

“We shouldn’t be overconfident. The result is very favourable but it doesn’t mean we played a super match.

“It was a very even match in which Madrid also had many chances. There are many things to improve.”

New Barca signing Oriel Romeu was the first to hit the woodwork at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys as he rattled the Real crossbar with a thundering drive in the fourth minute.

But Barca took the lead shortly after as a cleverly worked free-kick resulted in Pedri sliding a diagonal pass into the path of Dembele, who drilled the ball inside the far corner from a tight angle.

Real were awarded a penalty just five minutes later after Barca defender Ronald Araujo handled in the box but Vinicius Junior blasted the spot-kick against the bar.

The Brazil forward then fired against the underside of the bar and although Bellingham outjumped Barcelona goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen from the rebound, his header came back off a post before being scrambled behind.

Aurelien Tchouameni fired a long-range strike against the bar after half-time and as Real pushed for an equaliser, Barca substitute Lopez, 20, beat Thibuat Courtois on 85 minutes with a 20-yard strike after Toni Kroos had given away possession.

Vinicius fired against the bar for a third time from a tight angle yet Torres sealed the win as he ran on to a Lopez pass before lifting the ball over the advancing Courtois and tapping it into the empty net.

“The result is the least important thing,” said Real coach Carlo Ancelotti. “It hurts to lose, but I’ll keep the good things we did.

“We were good in terms of intensity; we had a lot of chances that didn’t go in. Five [against the woodwork] in a game is quite rare, I don’t think it has ever happened to me. But it’s better if it happens in pre-season.”

Barca complete their trip with a game against AC Milan in Las Vegas on 2 August while Real face Juventus in Orlando the following day.

 

Source:  BBC