BARCELONA, 19 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona will resume its usual pre-season tours after two seasons without them due to the pandemic and will do so by traveling to the United States, a country where it will play two friendly matches against David Beckham’s Inter Miami CF and the New York Red Bulls.
The tour will begin with the match that will be played in Miami against Inter Miami, on July 19, which will be the first confrontation between the two, since the American club was founded in 2018.
The team, owned by former English soccer player David Beckham, is coached by Manchester United legend Phil Neville and old acquaintances of European soccer like Gonzalo Higuaín, Blaise Matuidi and DeAndre Yedlin play on it.
Subsequently, Xavi Hernández’s team will face the New York Red Bulls on July 30, a club against which FC Barcelona already played both in 2006 and 2008. It will be played at the Red Bull Arena in Harrison (New Jersey), and in the American team midfielder Caden Clark stands out, on loan from the German RB Leipzig.
The last trip of the Catalan team to the United States occurred in 2019, when it played in Miami in Ann Arbor, Michigan, against Napoli. In fact, the country is one of the favorite destinations for FC Barcelona, who also played games there in 2011, 2015, 2017 or 2018, when they toured together with their women’s team.
The vice president of the club’s marketing area, Juli Guiu, positively valued being back in “a country that is strategic” for his interests. “It is a territory where we have a large fan base and where football has experienced great growth in recent years, especially among the new generations,” he recalled.
“This visit will allow us to get closer to them, share our values and our feeling for Barcelona and it will be an opportunity for them to enjoy our team on the pitch,” he told the club’s media.
The ‘general manager’ of the New York Red Bulls was also happy with the agreement. “We are very honored to host FC Barcelona at the Red Bull Arena, one of the country’s premier football venues. We look forward to writing a new chapter in the history of this stadium when we welcome Barça for the game against our Red Bulls from New York,” he said.
Finally, the ‘chief business officer’ of Inter Miami, Xavi Asensi, commented that bringing a club of the caliber of FC Barcelona to South Florida will continue to help boost the United States as the “world epicenter of soccer”. “We are proud and excited to bring this great match to the DRV PNK Stadium for our growing, passionate and multi-cultural fan base,” he stated.