Barcelona is physically trumped and suffers first defeat of the season

Wednesday, August 4, 2021 at 8:57 PM• Daniel Cabot Kerkdijk • Last update: 21:10

Barcelona have suffered the first (practice) defeat of the season. The team of coach Ronald Koeman lost 2-1 against Red Bull Salzburg on Wednesday evening by a goal in the final minutes. Sergiño Dest, Memphis Depay and Frenkie de Jong appeared at the starting signal in the Red Bull Arena; only the defender and the attacker were on the field for ninety minutes. The Catalans previously won each of the first three exhibition games with Gimnàstic (4-0), Girona (3-1) and VfB Stuttgart (0-3). Barcelona will face Juventus on Sunday for the annual Joan Gamper trophy.

In the first half it was clearly visible that Red Bull Salzburg is physically further than Barcelona, ​​partly because the competition has already started in Austria. The Austrians played fiercely, put a lot of pressure and the ball circulation was both fast and vertical. Although Barcelona, ​​where Depay once again left an excellent impression, did not disappoint, the game lacked automatisms. Depay was able to play with his back to goal and thus create danger together with Griezmann.

After a few minutes, Depay might have already made it 0-1, but Maximilian Wöber reacted well to a pass from Jordi Alba. After just over half an hour of play, the Dutchman used his body well, but the finish left much to be desired. That also applied to Griezmann a few minutes later, after an action by the Dutchman. The biggest opportunities in the first half were in any case for Red Bull Salzburg.

Noah Okafor failed to break open the game three times. After 24 minutes, after a mistake by Jordi Alba, he shot the ball over an empty goal. Five minutes later, the attacker again failed to get the ball behind Neto and in minute 39 he shoved the ball incomprehensibly next to the goal from a few meters away. The Austrians managed to score 1-0 just before half-time. A long shot by Luka Sucic ended through the back of De Jong behind the hopeless Neto.

Salzburg coach Matthias Jaissle opted for no fewer than nine changes to his team after the break, while De Jong took place between the central defenders of Barcelona to give Dest and Jordi Alba more freedom of movement forward. Koeman’s team did not start well in the second half. Ronald Araujo narrowly prevented Okafor from cashing in on a misstep by De Jong and a few minutes later Neto saved a shot by the Swiss again. After just over an hour of play, Koeman changed his team in four places: Sergi Roberto, Alejandro Baldé, Martin Braithwaite and Arnau Comas came in before Nico González, Jordi Alba, Araujo and Sergio Busquets.

An equalizer for the Catalans seemed to be out of the question. A seething effort by Baldé from 25 meters was a prey for goalkeeper Philipp Köhn. Riqui Puig, Yusuf Demir and Samuel Umtiti also made their appearance, as replacements for the excellent playing Gavi, Griezmann and Clément Lenglet. Eight minutes before the end came comically the 1-1: a shot from Dest hit Mamady Diambou’s body and then Braithwaite’s knee, who saw the leather disappear in the left corner. In the final minutes, with Rey Manaj taking the place of De Jong, Salzburg still won the game. Brenden Aaronson shot the ball into an empty goal after Chukwubuike Adamu shot the post.