Barcelona booked a business practice win on Sunday evening during the traditional opening game of the new season at the Camp Nou. In the friendly duel with Juventus for the Trofeo Joan Gamper, coach Ronald Koeman’s team was 3-0 too strong. Memphis Depay claimed a leading role by opening the score within three minutes and providing an assist for the second goal of los Azulgrana. For example, Barcelona had a positive end to a sad day, when Lionel Messi officially announced his departure via a press conference.
Koeman did not have access to Frenkie de Jong, who was not fit enough to kick off due to a strained calf muscle. Right back Sergiño Dest was at the kick-off, as was Depay. The latter filled in the left winger position, while Martin Braithwaite was in the striker. It was also striking that Philippe Coutinho was back in the match selection for the first time since December 2020 after a long road of injury. At Juventus, Matthijs de Ligt was central in the back as usual and Cristiano Ronaldo and Álvaro Morata, among others, made their first minutes of play since the European Championship 2020.
???????????????? ?? The Dutchman is accurate after only three minutes and thus signs for his third goal in four games ??#ZiggoSport #BARJUV pic.twitter.com/vtmUeLqtMc
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) August 8, 2021
Depay, who also scored in the exhibition matches with Girona and VfB Stuttgart, was greeted with loud applause when he came onto the field before the start signal. Within three minutes of kick-off, the Dutchman once again made Barcelona’s supporters cheer. The left winger on duty received a tailor-made cross pass from De Jong replacement Yusuf Demir, after which Depay outwitted goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny in a cool way: 1-0. It was Barca’s first goal in the ‘post-Messi era’.
In the twentieth minute of play, Depay again seemed to play an important role in a goal from the Catalans. He gave a nice pass to Antoine Griezmann, after which the ball ended up at Demir through Szczesny’s toe. The midfielder then completed the round, but the goal was disallowed for offside. Ten minutes later, the Austrian was again close to scoring. Mattia De Sciglio handed the ball in unhappily to Demir, who rushed towards the five-meter area but saw his diagonal effort turned by Juventus’ closing post.
In the counterattack, De Sciglio got the chance to make up for his defensive mistake. The right back got on the edge of the sixteen the falling ball at his feet and lashed out; however, his attempt with the outside right turned just past the right-hand intersection. Just under ten minutes before half time, another Barcelona goal was disallowed. Braithwaite shot the goalkeeper from close range, after which Griezmann did score from the rebound. However, the on-duty linesman made the controversial decision to disallow the goal for offside in the build-up to the attack.
That’s number one for Barcelona Martin Braithwaite hits a corner from Memphis #ZiggoSport #BARJUV pic.twitter.com/Nb41lvrfFs
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) August 8, 2021
Juventus, apart from a few pin pricks, was unable to break any offensively before the break. Barcelona was also the dominant party in the second act. The Catalan attacking spirit was scored in the 57th minute. Depay found Braithwaite from a corner from the right, after which the Danish international convincingly worked the 2-0 against the ropes. Twelve minutes from time, Depay himself was close to scoring his second goal of the evening, as he forced his way into the penalty area and stumbled upon Szczesny. In the last second of the match, the 3-0 still fell: Riqui Puig scored beautifully from outside the penalty area from the turn. Barcelona won the Trofeo Joan Gamper for the ninth time in a row; the last club that Barcelona of the trophy was Sampdoria in 2012.