Hansi Flick has his first few weeks as Barcelona coach behind him. During the pre-season tour of the United States, Barcelona beat Real Madrid 2-1 and also won against Manchester City on penalties. The only defeat came in the clash with Milan, also on penalties. – Hansi’s teams were always at the highest level. I am happy that we are working together again. I think we have a great season ahead of us, which we will crown with winning trophies – said Robert Lewandowski before the start of the season.
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Before the first round of the Spanish league, as every year, FC Barcelona played another match for the Gamper Cup, which has been played since 1966. This year, for the first time in history, Barcelona played for this trophy with AS Monaco. Dani Olmo had not yet made his debut for Barcelona in this match, but he was presented to Barcelona fans a few dozen minutes before the start of the match.
Lewandowski held his wrist. No goals in the first half
The match against Monaco was a great opportunity for fans to get a closer look at some of Barcelona’s players. One of them was 17-year-old Marc Bernal, a defensive midfielder who has been described in Spain as the successor to Sergio Busquets. Most of the action came through Bernal, who played in a midfield trio with 20-year-old Marc Casado and 21-year-old Pablo Torre.
Barcelona were clearly in control of the game, although the number of chances they created or the percentage of possession might not have indicated it. Barcelona could have been ahead in the first minute when Raphinha played a low pass into the Monaco box, but Pau Victor overshot from close range and hit high over the crossbar. In the 37th minute Raphinha put the ball into the Monaco goal, but was offside when Torre passed him.
In the 16th minute, Lewandowski managed to get a shot on target at Monaco’s goal. However, the ball went straight to the intervening Philipp Kohn. At the moment of the shot, Lewandowski collided with Denis Zakaria and briefly held his wrist. The Pole tried to move back to play the ball, giving his teammates more options to attack. However, this was not a half in which the striker had many opportunities to prove himself.
Three blows from Monaco in the second half. Barcelona’s first defeat in 12 years
From the very beginning of the second half, Flick tried to help Lewandowski to create more goal-scoring opportunities, so he brought Ilkay Gundogan onto the pitch. In the 50th minute, Monaco celebrated their first goal of the match. Then, Inigo Martinez started the game from the defensive line and played the ball towards Bernal, but the Barcelona midfielder did not expect that he would be beaten to it by one of the opponents. It was Mohamed Camara who did it, placing the ball into the Barcelona goal.
Just seven minutes had passed and Monaco were already leading 2-0. Takumi Minamino was comfortable in Barcelona’s half and was dribbling. The Japanese played a through ball towards Embolo, who was already in Barcelona’s penalty area. There, the Swiss picked up the ball slightly, but it was enough to beat Ter Stegen.
The Barcelona fans in the stadium were in an uproar in the 61st minute when the broadcaster showed that Lamine Yamal had just finished warming up. Seven minutes later, there was another uproar as Yamal came on to replace Robert Lewandowski. In the 71st minute, Victor had a second great chance in the Monaco penalty area, but his shot narrowly missed the right post. Yamal and Ferran Torres also had their chances, but the opposing goalkeeper was never beaten.
In the 87th minute, Monaco scored for the third time. Then Gerard Martin made a mistake while clearing the ball in his own penalty area, and Christian Mawissa profited from it. By then, however, Inaki Pena was in Barcelona’s goal, not Ter Stegen. Barcelona’s defeat finally became a fact.
Thus, Barcelona lost their first match for the Gamper Trophy in 12 years. In 2012, Barcelona lost 0-1 to Sampdoria (currently playing in Serie B – ed.) after a goal by Roberto Soriano.
