FC Barcelona Versus Gimnastic Result, Goal Clips And What We Learned

At the Estadio Johan Cruyff on Saturday, FC Barcelona took on Gimnastic de Tarragona in their first preseason friendly for the 2020/2021 season.

Here’s the result, what we learned, and what happened in the tie.

Ronald Koeman put out an interesting lineup

Neto starting in goal, Sergi Roberto got the nod at right back while there was a rare run out for Carles Alena. New boy Pedri was handed a chance to shine too, while captain Lionel Messi was also present from the offset.

4-2-3-1 as expected

This touted from Koeman the moment he succeeded Quique Setien almost three weeks ago, the new formation saw Alena and Sergio Busquets act as double pivots with Messi and Antoine Griezmann seemingly swapping between lone striker and central attacking midfielder roles. In light of this, Pedri slotted in on the right wing.

All smiles from Messi

Putting his attempted summer exit behind him, the skipper was pictured beaming from ear to ear and is now back to doing what he loves best.

Ousmane Dembele got the Blaugrana off the mark

The ball slid into the box by Roberto, the bulked-up Frenchman playing his first minutes since November dinked it around his approaching marker then slotted it past the ‘keeper. A great confidence booster for the Mosquito.

It was an all-Les Bleus affair thus far, as Griezmann doubled his side’s account

Converting a penalty in the minute of his old number 17, Barça’s new 7 made no mistake from the spot.

Gimnastic clawed their way back into it

The visitors pulled one back on the half hour mark via Javi Bonilla, and Koeman looked stressed from the bench at how easy it had been.

Changes were due at half time

Granted this was a friendly in any event, Koeman had promised the players “45 minutes each” yesterday, meaning Riqui Puig was en route alongside other stars including Frenkie de Jong and Francisco Trincao.

Pedri and Alena had impressed

SPORT’s Albert Roge was pleased by the youngsters’ contribution, which was a common theme across social media among fans and pundits alike.

Koeman kept his word

A completely fresh XI took over for the second 45 minutes, as detailed below. ESPN’s Samuel Marsden was clearly excited to see Miami native Konrad de La Fuente in action, and he was joined by Jorge Cuenca, Ronald Araujo and Inaki Pena from the B team.

We were indeed to get a look at Trincao, and also Philippe Coutinho returning from a loan assignment/treble-winning campaign at Bayern Munich.

Coutinho scored Barça’s second penalty of the night

Awarded after a handball on a Nelson Semedo shot that actually went in, the Brazilian was gifted a similar Dembele-esque shot of morale by making it 3-1 on 51 minutes.

He was Barça’s standout player in the second half

With respected scribe Adrian Sanchez noting that Coutinho had come back from Bavaria “on another level”.

It was a routine win in the end from FC Barcelona

As should be the case, Barça prevailed over their fellow Catalans and now head towards another clash with regional neighbors Girona midweek. Unused here, we could see cameos from the likes of highly-rated academy promise Ilaix Moriba and Marc Andre ter Stegen.

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