Barcelona have been unable to win the Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup after shedding 1-0 to Udinese within the triangular match held in Udine.
Earlier than kick-off, the gamers of each groups noticed a minute’s silence in honour of the soul of Messi’s father, who handed away following a wrestle with sickness.
Marca newspaper ran by the principle highlights of a match Barcelona dominated nearly from begin to end, giving their Italian opponents few probabilities.
Effectiveness was the issue. The Catalans struggled to succeed in the opponent’s purpose and threatened Udinese solely twice. They paid dearly within the remaining minute when the Ivorian Bayo scored the winner.
Not like the primary match, Barcelona wished to dominate by possession, passing the ball round calmly and carrying down opponents who have been compelled to chase.
Attacking depth was Hansi Flick’s major headache. His opponents closed the areas extraordinarily properly.
Set items provided the one early hazard, Christensen rising for a header that flew previous the purpose.
Flick tried to alter issues after 1 / 4 of an hour, throwing on 5 gamers directly. Amongst them was Bassiouo, who made his Barcelona debut, alongside Balde, who featured for the primary time in pre-season.
The rhythm stayed the identical, although. Barcelona held management however created little, and ultimately completed with a line-up made up largely of reserve staff gamers.
These minutes have been among the many better of the match for the children. They pressed their opponents arduous and provided loads of promise, however they too lacked the purpose.
Holding Udinese quiet was Barcelona’s best achievement. Nottingham had carved out a number of probabilities within the earlier match, but Udinese barely troubled Szczesny.
Then got here the sting. With the whole lot pointing in direction of a penalty shootout, Curtis made a mistake that allow Udinese break, and Bayo completed into the web to settle the match.
