Barcelona lost the battle for the Maradona Cup on Tuesday evening with the unofficial return of Dani Alves. Barça lost the friendly against Boca Juniors, which was played in the Saudi Arabian capital Riyadh, after a 1-1 draw in the penalty shootout: 4-2 in penalties. The competition was organized as a tribute to Diego Maradona, who passed away last year.
Alves was picked up by Barcelona in November on a free transfer. The Brazilian right back is only officially eligible to play from 1 January, but is therefore allowed to play in practice matches. It was 2018 days since Alves last played for Barca. From the second half, the routine wore the captain’s armband. Xavi also opted for an improvised starting eleven, with Sergiño Dest as left winger. Philippe Coutinho was lined up as a false nine in the absence of the injured Memphis Depay. Riqui Puig and Yusuf Demir also appeared at the kick-off, as did a number of Barcelona B players.
Good crazy back in action ??@DaniAlvesD2 #MaradonaCup pic.twitter.com/2rsajnbDZ4
— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 14, 2021
Alves fired at the goal in the opening phase with a powerful shot, which was stopped by goalkeeper Agustín Rossi. On the other side of the field, Clément Lenglet was beaten up to speed by Sebastián Villa. Boca’s winger had a good shot, but hit the side net. Barça, however, were the dominant side and also had good opportunities in the remainder of the first half. Coutinho showed himself with an individual move, passing his opponent, but the Brazilian’s shot went over.
Five minutes after the break, Barcelona took the lead when Dani Alves hurled the ball in front of the goal from the right. The ball came through the arm of Coutinho with some fortune at Ferran Jutlgà, who found room to knock the ball out of the corner in the corner: 1-0. The referee failed to notice that Coutinho had unintentionally made hands, causing the goal to stop. After that, Xavi made many changes and Barça lost control of the game. Ten minutes before the end, Boca managed to get the ball to the left behind the Catalan defense at Frank Fabra. The cross from the left back was easily typed in by Exequiel Zeballos: 1-1.
As a result, a penalty shootout followed, in which Alves took the first on behalf of Barça. The right-back saw his shot fly into the left corner through Rossi’s fingertips and breathed a sigh of relief. Boca scored four times, while Matheus Pereira and Guillem Jaime on behalf of Barça failed from eleven meters: 4-2 in penalties for the Argentines.