Rock & Roll summer for FC Barcelona

August 13, 2022

Rock & Roll summer for FC Barcelona

Pre-season Wondrous, FC Barcelona THUNDEROUS

FC Barcelona have started the new XAVI ERA in a ROCK&ROLL fashion. We Culers know that we have had nearly a perfect transfer window, but Xavi isn't happy with the depth in the squad. Frankly speaking, we Culers also feel that there are some positions where there is a single player playing all the time.

For example, Jordi Alba (though he plays exceptionally well), doesn't have an immediate substitute ready for fighting in that position. Alejandro Balde is still very young and needs to improve a lot. He can look up to Jordi Alba as a mentor but can't directly replace him. Sergino Dest can also play as a Left-back but can't replace Jordi Alba. Similarly, for the Centre Defensive Midfield position, we have only Sergio Busquets. Lets face the truth, Sergio has just one or two years left for him to play as a proper CDM. We need to have an immediate replacement for him. Frank Yannick Kessie can be a good player to replace Busquets but I still feel he is a more attacking player rather than a ball winning midfielder.

Xavi needs reinforcements in every position because last year during his first spell as the manager, we had loads of injuries with the players going to the hospitals and returning back with long injuries which breaks a player's momentum.

But with all these problems we are having a pre-season which is truly "THUNDEROUS"!

Pre-season Wonder:

Xavi himself will be mesmerized by the way Barcelona is playing every match.

The pre-season started with a terrific display by the squad placed by Xavi. The first match was against Unio Esportiva Olot, S.A.D. It is a Spanish team which plays in the autonomous region of Catalunya. Though the game ended in a draw but we saw a different approach taken by FC Barcelona.

Xavi opted for a very young line up. Ezzalzouli and Akhomach getting a nod to start from Xavi. They both are total speedsters. With them, Aubameyang started. In the middle it was a gamble by Xavi. Though Xavi has amazing squad depth in midfield, he opted to give a chance to the young Pablo Torre. Along with him Nico Gonzalez started as a CDM and Frank Kessie were given the chance to showcase their immense talent.

At the back four, it was Mika Marmol Medina who started with Arnau Casas. Both young La Masia players were given an opportunity. Along with them, there was some experience in backline with Sergino Dest and Marc Andre Ter Stegen.

Barcelona in their shinning golden jersey saw some of the dazzling talents on the field. The likes of Pablo Torre and Alex Collado might have made Xavi think about their future in the football club. I liked the way Pablo Torre played. He played like he belongs here. Alex Collado on the other hand a bit of shaky start but was able to manage his positions and ball control was on point. Barcelona started off well with Aubameyang securing a goal. It was a well built move with Aubameyang scoring an amazing finish. With this we sought have started dropping some tempo. We hence conceded a penalty with Eloi Amagat scoring the penalty for Unio. I should say that it was a very composed finish which was calmly taken.

After this match, it was the USA tour of FC Barcelona. The first match was against David Beckham's Inter Miami FC. It was a starlit performance from FC Barcelona. 6 goals on the top of that keeping a clean sheet. This match made me remember the old FC Barcelona. This made me truly say that FC Barcelona is back. Not just back but "Back in Black". I wish I could add some music to this blog. Because this match deserved the electric music of AC/DC. Truly electric performance by our players. Andreas Christensen It started with once again Aubameyang scoring the first goal with our new signing Raphinha making it 2-0 within 25 minutes. It is then Ansu fait scored the third making it 3-0 in first half. Totally mesmerizing and electrifying. The second half started again with an amazing goal by Pablo Gavira. After that there were goals raining down at the DNV PNK Stadium, the home of Inter Miami FC. In the end we won 6-0.

This is when it gets even better, we defeated our greatest rival. Yes you have guessed correctly. We defeated Real Madrid with a goal.

The lineup chosen by Xavi was pretty strong. Xavi is truly a footballing legend. He has shown it numerous times and this match counts in the numerous stack of wins. The only new thing I saw was with Ronald Araujo. He was truly a hulk in RB position. He was able to manage Vincius with some deadly tackles. He also was so energetic that he was literally the driving force in FC Barcelona's performance. But he wasn't the only player have a blast that day. It was our brand new signing Raphinha. It was beautiful goal from Raphinha. With this goal, the Allegiant Stadium stood up with standing ovation. After this goal, we saw fantastic effort from Federico Valverde. It was a long range shot and it hit the post.

There were many fouls from FC Barcelona which ended up with caution and yellow-card from the referee. This was the only negative part of the game. One of the most iconic moments was this scene where all the Real Madrid and FC Barcelona players started pushing. It was at this moment that it looked like the real rivalry is back.

With this FC Barcelona had a lack-luster performance against Juventus FC. We drew 2-2 with Juventus. Though lack-luster performance but two goals scored by Ousmane Dembele were world-class. He silenced the haters and he even silenced me as even I was a hater for a long time.

Now comes the second last pre-season game of FC Barcelona. It was against New York Red Bulls. This was a fairly easy match for FC Barcelona to be honest. We ended up having 71% ball possession. It is truly commendable. So much possession with tiki-taka style football. Once again Ousmane Dembele started the match with a goal at 40th minute. At the end just before full-time, Memphis Depay scored a goal at 87th minute. Miralem Pjanic got some minutes and I would say he was looking very calm and composed with the ball in his control. I bet he can be an important feature in Xavi's plan.

Pre-season FINAL:

FC Barcelona were back to Catalunya to play the last pre-season game. This time it was against Pumas UNAM. It is a Liga MX team. This was a Trofeu Joan Gamper, 2022 which was named after the former FC Barcelona founder Joan Gamper. We had a familiar face in the Pumas UNAM team. It was none other than Dani Alves. He left for Pumas UNAM this transfer window. He wasn't given proper send-away.

We started with this lineup. It was a strong line-up given by Xavi. Alejandro Balde getting a start under Xavi. I should say that he played really well. He was making good amount of runs in the box and was winning the ball back as well.

The game started with the first goal at 3rd minute. It was none other than Robert Lewandowski. It was a tight angle and god only knows how he managed to score that. Incredible goal from him. This has certainly boosted his confidence before the new season of La Liga. With this, there was a scoring spree with FC Barcelona scoring 4 goals under 20 minutes. It was a truly sensational experience. Pedri himself got a brace with Lewandowski giving him an assist in one goal. Second half we were at times pressurized by Pumas and they were attacking very well. Honestly I felt they should have scored a goal or two. But Barcelona didn't stop at just scoring 4 goals. They ended the match with 6 goals in their pockets and a clean sheet for Marc Andre Ter Stegen our "Wall of Germany".

FC Barcelona lifted their first trophy of the season.

Dani Alves was emotional while he celebrated for the last time with FC Barcelona. He was given the whole hearted send-away he deserved. It was in front of a jam packed Spotify Camp Nou.