Barcelona have made two wins out of two to begin their preseason tour of Asia thanks to a dominant 7-3 victory over FC Seoul at the Seoul World Cup Stadium in South Korea on Thursday. Hansi Flick used 24 players across the 90 minutes and saw his team deliver strong performances in both halves, with Lamine Yamal the star of the show in the first period and plenty of impressive displays by reserves and youngsters in the final frame to give the Catalans a fun, high-scoring win.
FIRST HALF
Flick picked
another very strong lineup for the second game in a row, and Barça were dominant from the start: the passing and spacing were excellent, the movement with and without the ball was on point, and the Blaugana found it very easy to create chances early on.
Robert Lewandowski scored a very easy tap-in after a shot from Lamine Yamal hit the post and came back to the Pole, and Yamal himself got in the action with a gorgeous strike from outside the box. Barça had a two-goal lead after just 15 minutes, and were by far the better team from the get-go.
They found it so easy, in fact, that they took their foot off the gas and allowed Seoul to have some joy on the ball and the hosts began to find spaces in behind Barça’s high line. The Catalans’ offside trap worked well, but they still allowed the hosts to score as Yamal lost the ball at the edge of his own box and a quick cross found (a clearly offside) Cho who fired it home off the bar.
Both teams began suffering from the hot and humid conditions towards the end of the period and the pace of play dropped dramatically, but there was still time for quite a bit of drama and entertainment just before halftime.
It all began with a fantastic solo run by Raphinha down the left wing and a pass by the Brazilian that should have become an assist for Dani Olmo, but the Spaniard dragged his shot just wide and missed a big chance. Immediately after that, Seoul center-back Al-Arab ventured forward and fired a nice shot with his left foot into the net to score the equalizer and shock the entire crowd.
But Olmo redeemed himself shortly after with a beautiful through ball to find Yamal, whose last contribution of the night was a disgusting dribble move that literally sent his defender flying before Lamine took another touch and fired a beauty into the far corner. It was an amazing goal to end an amazing two-minute sequence, and it was a fitting end to a fun first half in Seoul.
SECOND HALF
Flick changed his entire XI to begin the second half, going with pretty much the same team of reserves and youngsters that played well together the second half against Vissel Kobe. And that group started well again in this one, with Marcus Rashford direct and dangerous again, Gavi looking more like himself, and Andreas Christensen scoring a sensational goal with a rocket from 30 yards to restore Barça’s two-goal lead.
Jofre Torrents was impressive once again at left-back, making solid runs and delivering excellent passes, and one of those passes turned into an assist for Ferran Torres, who showed excellent composure inside the box to sit down his defender and find the net to triple Barça’s advantage with 15 minutes to go. Two minutes after that Gavi scored an absolutely filthy goal with a brilliant spin and finish inside the box, and the Catalans turned the win into a rout.
Flick gave two more players a run in the final 15 minutes as Guille and Toni Fernández came on for Gavi and Roony Bardghji, and the two cousins were active and had some good moments on the ball in their limited time on the pitch.
Seoul did very little to bother the Barça defense in the second half but still managed to give the crowd something to cheer with five minutes to go when Jung got behind the defense on the counter and scored a nice goal to get the hosts on the board for a third time on the night.
Barça were not done, however, and Rashford got his first assist as a Blaugrana with a nice through ball in between two defenders to find Ferran, who passed the ball into the bottom corner to score Barça’s seventh of the night.
The final whistle came to end a highly entertaining evening in Seoul, with Barça dominating both halves despite a couple of defensive lapses that are normal in a non-competitive preseason environment. But there were plenty of positive signs in both periods, and the reserves and youngsters in the second half showed once again that there’s plenty of depth on this team ahead of a long, hard season.
Barça will face Daegu FC on Monday to finish their Asia tour, looking for a third straight win and yet another strong showing. Well done, boys!
Seoul: Kang; Park, Jeong, Al-Arab, Kim; Anderson, Jeong, Lee, Moon; Lingard, Cho
Goals: Cho (26’), Al-Arab (45+1’), Jung (85’)
Barcelona 1H: Garcia; Kounde, Araujo, Cubarsí, Balde; De Jong, Pedri; Yamal, Olmo, Raphinha; Lewandowski
Barcelona 2H: Szczesny; Fort, Christensen, Martín, Jofre; Casadó, Gavi (Guille 77’); Bardghji (Toni 77’), Fermín, Rashford; Ferran
Goals: Lewandowski (8’), Yamal (14’, 45+3’), Christensen (55’), Ferran (74’, 88’), Gavi (76’)
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