As every year since 1966, Barcelona opens the season with a home game for an unofficial title called the Gamper Cup. In the exhibition game named after Juan Gamper, one of the club’s founders and former president, Barça hosts a different team every year and at the end of the game presents its fans with the squad for the upcoming season. Last night (Monday), for the first time in 12 years, the game ended in Barcelona’s loss to the guest spoiling the celebration. The one who won the cup was Monaco with a surprising 0:3 victory, which was a wake-up call for the start of the Spanish league this coming weekend.
Hanzi Flick went up in the unofficial home debut with a mostly strong team, but in the second half the disintegration came when even the substitutes such as Lamin Yamal and Ilkai Gundoan who was injured and replaced were not saved. Lamin Kamara scored in the 50th minute, Brill Ambulo doubled seven minutes later and Christian Mavisa closed the story in the 86th minute.
Unusually, the captain of Barcelona this year is a foreign player, not a home player of the club and not even a Spaniard. It is about Marc Andre ter Stegen, who inherited the film from Sergi Roberto who left. After the defeat, the German goalkeeper said: “We hope this game is just a glitch, it’s a warning for us.” His coach Flick added at the end: “I know what the team is capable of, this time it was not our game. We will play differently in Valencia and I am sure we will be better.”
Barcelona players, photo: Getty Images The new captain addresses the crowd. Marc-Andre ter Stegen, photo: Reuters
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