Wednesday evening saw the traditional curtain-raiser to the league season take place
, with Al Ahly the visitors for the Joan Gamper Trophy match.As has become customary for these games, there was a festival atmosphere both inside and outside the ground, with the players being introduced to the crowd before the game got into full swing.
Hansi Flick began the match with a strong starting XI, though the final pre-season friendly came just too quickly for Rodri to make an appearance at any point.
Let’s
take a look at three talking points from the game…
The end of Jules Kounde as a starter?
Culers have long contended that Jules Kounde has been a liability at right-back.
Whether being beaten for pace or outmuscled by the opposition attacker, there was evidently a feeling that the Frenchman hadn’t been at his best there for some while.
This pre-season has seen Hansi Flick make a few tactical and positional tweaks, and placing Kounde back into central defence could’ve seen him make a real contribution in what was his original position.
However, he once again looked like a fish out of water at times against Al Ahly, including when the visitors scored early in the second-half.
With Ronald Araujo having left on loan, the chance for Kounde to stake a claim to play centrally is there, though on Wednesday’s performance, it’s a no-go.
Eric Garcia’s more attack-minded performance in the right-back slot has done Kounde no favours there either.
Hamza impresses once more
It’s clear that Hamza Abdelkarim is still raw as an elite-level striker, but four goals in three pre-season games will have at least given Flick some food for thought.
A mixture of pace, strength, good movement and associative play with the likes of Raphinha and Lamine Yamal, not to mention a sniper’s eye for goal, have all contributed to a fine start to his Barca career.
With no centre forward yet signed by the club, Hamza at least affords Flick the option of utilising him instead of a false nine.
Golden Gordon
Once again, Anthony Gordon was impressive, this time in a second-half cameo.
The former Newcastle United man is still settling into his new role but has slotted in at Barca perfectly.
Whether used by Flick as an impact sub for Raphinha initially, or utilised elsewhere in the front line, his work rate will help win him the plaudits, and his attacking excellence will help win Barca games.
A shame he couldn’t despatch the penalty he’d won, but it’s still so far, so good from the Englishman.
