End of tour for Real Madrid tonight, and end of preparation since the next match that the Merengues will play before the resumption of La Liga will be this European Super Cup, against Eintracht Frankfurt. Carlo Ancelotti’s troops faced Juventus, and the Italian was betting on a rather starting eleven this time, since Benzema started at the top with Vinicius and Valverde, and we were entitled to a midfield made up of Casemiro, Kroos and Modric. If the Turinese started quite well with a free kick from Bonucci on the bar in particular, it was the Merengues who struck first. Vinicius Junior was broke in the area, and Karim Benzema transformed wonderfully, all in power (1-0, 19th).
The two teams continued to have interesting situations, but at the start of the second period, Real Madrid took the final advantage in the game, with a sacred opportunity from Carvajal released by Perin in particular (55th). The Italian goalkeeper also came out with an exceptional parade on a well-felt curling shot from Benzema (61st). Shortly after the hour mark, Ancelotti changed all his eleven and two entrants were going to break. Jesus Vallejo, aligned as a left side, offered a caviar to Asensio who only had to push the ball into the back of the net (2-0, 68th). The score did not move, just as the end of the match was quite poor in spectacle and opportunities.
Dembele, still brilliant
For its part, FC Barcelona, which had just come out of a 2-2 draw against Juventus, also beat its evening rival, for its penultimate warm-up match. For this duel against the NY Red Bulls, Xavi bet on an attacking trio made up of Raphinha, Lewandowski and Dembélé, while Busquets, Gavi and De Jong made up the midfield. Unsurprisingly, the Catalans were dominating early on, and Lewandowski wasn’t happy in front of goal with several missed chances. Ousmane Dembélé, who had already made the powder speak against Juve, continued to be on his right flank, setting fire throughout the first period, with a caviar which the Pole did not benefit from, for example (24th).
It was the Frenchman who was going to strike first. While he had started the action on the left side, he found Raphinha on the edge of the box. The Brazilian shifted, and after this one-two, the former Rennais quickly returned to the right beat the rival goalkeeper with a nice cross shot (0-1, 39th). In the second period, with the traditional ball of changes that we see during these friendlies, the Catalan club continued to dominate, even if Lewandowski was still unlucky at the finish (56th). Ansu Fati also missed several interesting opportunities, such as this shot in front of the cages where he opened his foot too much and just missed the frame (75th). It was ultimately Memphis Depay who would score the second Blaugrana goal. Taking advantage of an error by the goalkeeper and a defender, the Dutchman recovered the leather in the area and sent it to the back of the net (2-0, 86th). His last goal under the Barcelona tunic?
