The best news for Xavi was the return to activity of Pedri and Ansu Fati
Kessié and Pablo Torre debuted as starters for the Barça team
BARCELONA, 13 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona started the pre-season friendlies this Wednesday with a draw (1-1) against Unió Esportiva Olot, a first test with many players from the reserve team and the debut of Kessié and Pablo Torre as Barça players, where the best news was the return to the activity of Pedri and Ansu Fati.
The new Barça of Xavi Hernández, who begins his first full season at the helm of the team, started the new season with new synergies between the players in the squad and the newcomers, all of them with the common goal of earning trust from the first day of the Terrassa technician.
The young midfielder Pablo Torre, at the age of 19, showed his gall and ambition from the start, a letter of introduction in which he did not take long to demonstrate his genius -with spouts included- and the good rapport with his teammates to generate the best chances of the ‘culés’ in the first part.
The best chances came from the boots of the new signings. First it was Pablo Torre, who looked deep into Aubameyang to test the goal, and later Kessié brought out his ability to reach the opposite area to put a cross to the Gabonese who touched the crossbar.
But the former Arsenal player showed that he hadn’t lost his scoring nose after the holidays and opened the scoring after an assist from goalkeeper Ter Stegen, who showed off his footwork with a long pass that Aubameyang finished off with a lob at the first touch in the first half hour of meeting.
After the goal, the Catalan team disconnected and the control of possession was not enough to reach the break ahead. Midfielder Eloi Amagat showed his experience and equalized from eleven meters in the 44th minute.
Xavi changed his eleven and showed the ‘reset’ of the team, giving opportunities to players like Miralem Pjanic and Àlex Collado, who returned to wear the ‘culé’ shirt after their respective loans to Turkish Besiktas and Granada.
Together with them, the midfield was completed by Pedri, who brought out the ‘8’, his new number, after feeling like a player again after three months due to his biceps femoris injury. In the same way as Ansu Fati, already recovered from the knee and with the captain’s armband, the main asset in attack in the second half.
Precisely, the connection between the two took center stage and resulted in the best chance, although the player from Tenerife was left with honey on his lips at the edge of the area. Barça’s impotence in attack enhanced Olot’s defensive work, which was not intimidated by the Barça pearls to end up in a draw in the first pre-season friendly.
Collado, omnipresent in the game, tried in every way but once again showed the lack of goalscoring from the attackers. A pending task for Xavi, which he hopes to solve with the arrival of new reinforcements, such as the Brazilian winger Raphinha, announced this Wednesday by the club.
After the first test in Olot, the azulgranas will head to the United States to carry out the American tour, where they will face Inter Miami, Real Madrid, Juventus Turin and New York Red Bulls. The first of these duels will be played in the city of Miami on July 19.