Barcelona - NouCamp Faithful

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Sevilla 0 - 5 Barcelona : Suarez scores twice as Barcelona thrash Sevilla in the Copa del Rey

Barcelona won their fourth successive Copa del Rey with a merciless 5-0 thrashing of Sevilla as departing hero Andres Iniesta joined the usual suspects on the scoresheet.

Luis Suarez netted twice in the first half, Lionel Messi grabbed his 40th of the season and Philippe Coutinho marked his first final for the club with a successful penalty, but it was a rare strike from Iniesta which drew the broadest smiles in a one-sided romp at the Wanda Metropolitano.

The Spanish great is set to depart for China at the end of the campaign and he showed characteristic timing by popping up with a delicate effort before tearing up following an emotional tribute from the Barca faithful.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Deportivo La Coruña 2 - 4 Barcelona : Lionel Messi nets hat trick as Barcelona claim La Liga title; Deportivo La Coruna relegated

Lionel Messi put the icing on the cake as Barcelona clinched the La Liga title with a 4-2 victory over Deportivo La Coruna, who were relegated.

Barca went into the match knowing a point would be enough to see them regain the trophy with four matches still to play.

They did not have things all their own way against a spirited Depor, who fought back to level through Lucas Perez and Emre Colak after Philippe Coutinho and Messi had put Barca 2-0 up.

Depor were forced to push forward knowing only victory would be enough to keep their survival hopes alive and they paid the price as Messi added two late goals to complete the 46th hat trick of his career.

The on-pitch celebrations were muted, perhaps out of respect for their dejected opponents, but Barca, who remain unbeaten in the league, cannot be denied a seventh title in 10 seasons.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 2 - 2 Real Madrid : Real Madrid rally for draw against 10-man Barcelona with late Bale goal

Gareth Bale's equaliser helped Real Madrid rally for a 2-2 draw against 10-man Barcelona in a combative affair on Sunday night at the Camp Nou.

Barcelona were on the front foot from the off and found their opener on 10 minutes when Luis Suarez smashed a first-time volley from an inch-perfect Sergi Roberto cross past Keylor Navas.

But Real struck back before the quarter-hour through Cristiano Ronaldo, who tapped home a headed Karim Benzema pass from close range after some nice build-up play from Zinedine Zidane's team.

The strike from Ronaldo put the Portuguese level with Real legend Alfredo Di Stefano for the second-most Clasico goals of all-time at 18. Lionel Messi has the most with 25.

The match grew testy as the first half wore on, with Messi handed a yellow card for a hard tackle on Sergio Ramos and Roberto being shown straight red for violent conduct after throwing a punch at Marcelo before half-time.

Down to 10 men, Barcelona took the lead against the run of play when Suarez picked out Messi at the top of the Madrid penalty area and the Argentine took two touches to his left and curled a shot in at the near post to make the score 2-1.

Messi nearly had his second on 70 minutes, but Navas did well to keep hs shot out after Suarez had sprung him behind the Madrid defence.

And the miss would prove costly for Barca when Bale scored with a spectacular first-time shot two minutes later, curling the ball around Marc-Andre ter Stegen from a Marco Asensio assist.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 5 - 1 Villarreal : Andres Iniesta shines as Barcelona down Villarreal, stay unbeaten

Andres Iniesta provided two world-class assists and Ousmane Dembele added two late goals as La Liga champions Barcelona saw off Villarreal 5-1 on Wednesday to maintain their quest for an unbeaten domestic league season.

After Villarreal gave Barcelona the guard of honour that Real Madrid had denied them on Sunday, Philippe Coutinho and Paulinho scored in the opening 16 minutes to put Barcelona comfortably in front, before Iniesta found Messi just before the break and Dembele added a pair of goals late on.

The visitors got a goal back in the 54th minute when Pablo Fornals was given space in the box to shoot, and his strike deflected off the back of teammate Nicola Sansone and into the net.

Dembele produced his best performance since arriving from Borussia Dortmund for £135.5 million last summer to finish with two goals having left Villarreal defenders in his wake all night.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Levante 5 - 4 Barcelona : Barcelona's quest to finish La Liga season unbeaten ends in surprise loss

Barcelona's quest for an unbeaten La Liga season came to a shocking end with a 5-4 defeat away to Levante on Sunday.

Barca wrapped up the league title two weeks ago, but coach Ernesto Valverde said his team were focused on becoming the first Spanish side to go unbeaten through an entire league campaign since Real Madrid did it in 1931-32, when the season lasted only 18 games.

But Levante, who had not beaten Barcelona in the league since 1964, ended the champions' dream in the second-to-last game of the season as Emmanuel Boateng recorded a hat trick.

Philippe Coutinho scored three goals in an attempt to rally his side, which had left Lionel Messi out of the squad, and Luis Suarez added a 71st-minute penalty, but the comeback came up short, ending Barcelona's run of 43 games unbeaten dating to last season.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Mamelodi Sundowns 1 - 3 Barcelona : Lionel Messi returns as Barcelona seal victory in friendly

Lionel Messi came on as a second-half substitute as Barcelona beat Mamelodi Sundowns 3-1 in a friendly in Johannesburg on Wednesday as part of the Nelson Mandela Centenary celebrations.

Messi was rested for Sunday's surprise loss to Levante, which denied Barca an unbeaten league campaign in their penultimate fixture, provoking criticism of coach Ernesto Valverde.

Ousmane Dembele had given them the lead within three minutes, making the most of a defensive error to curl home expertly from the edge of the box.

The Spanish champions then doubled their lead in the 20th minute when Denis Suarez fed his namesake, Luis Suarez, who made no mistake when one-on-one with Denis Onyango.

Valverde made 11 changes at half-time, with injured duo Thomas Vermaelen and Samuel Umtiti the only first-team players not to feature. One of the substitutes, Andre Gomes, added Barca's third after good work by Paco Alcacer.

Messi was then introduced but was a spectator as Sibusiso Vilakazi pulled one back for Sundowns, getting the better of Jasper Cillessen after managing to stay onside.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 1 - 0 Real Sociedad : Barcelona beat Real Sociedad in Andres Iniesta's final game

Andres Iniesta's final Barcelona appearance ended in victory on an emotional evening at the Nou Camp.

La Liga champions Barca, who lost their unbeaten record in a 5-4 loss at Levante last week, responded with a 28th win of the season, defeating Real Sociedad 1-0.

Former Liverpool forward Philippe Coutinho, scorer of a hat trick a week ago, netted the only goal on a night which belonged to Iniesta.

The Spain playmaker was substituted after 81 minutes and received a rapturous reception as he bade farewell to the stage he has graced for so long and so successfully.

The 34-year-old will leave the club this summer 22 years after joining their academy, having won 32 major honours including four Champions League titles and nine La Liga titles. He took his time to depart, embracing teammates and soaking in the adoration.

There were 84,168 spectators at the Nou Camp and prior to kick-off a mosaic was formed, turning Iniesta's number eight on its side to form the infinity symbol.



(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 2 - 2 Tottenham Hotspur : Malcom scores winning spot-kick as Barcelona beat Tottenham on penalties

(Barcelona wins 5-3 on pen)

New signing Malcom scored the winning spot-kick on his Barcelona debut as the La Liga champions beat Tottenham on penalties following a 2-2 draw in the International Champions Cup on Saturday.

The Brazilian rolled home from the spot just four days after joining the club from in a €41 million deal from Bordeaux after Anthony Georgiou had missed for Spurs.

It had been a tale of two halves at the Rose Bowl, with first-half goals from Munir El Haddadi and Arthur Melo easing Barca into a comfortable lead.

However, Ernesto Valverde's decision to make eight changes at the break allowed Spurs to get back into the match and they levelled thanks to efforts from Son Heung-Min and Georges-Kevin N'Koudou.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 2 - 4 AS Roma : Malcom impresses but Roma and Florenzi fight back to beat Barcelona

Roma came from behind to beat Barcelona 4-2 in the International Champions Cup at AT&T Stadium but not before Malcom had given them a taste of what they missed out on.

A flurry of late goals from Alessandro Florenzi, Bryan Cristante and Diego Perotti helped the Italians recover from 2-1 down as they took full advantage of Barca's changes in the latter stages of the game.

Ernesto Valverde had made 10 outfield substitutions by the time Florenzi levelled the match at 2-2 and the Barca coach will be happy with what he saw before he brought on the club's B team players -- especially from new signing Malcom.

Making his first start for his new club, Malcom impressed in a Barca side which was without Lionel Messi and the other players that took part in this summer's World Cup.

After Stephan El Shaarawy had cancelled out Rafinha's early opener, the script was written for Malcom to restore Barca's lead after good work from Ballou Tabla.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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AC Milan 1 - 0 Barcelona : Andre Silva wins match for AC Milan on last kick

Andre Silva scored with the last kick of the game as AC Milan punished Barcelona for failing to take their chances in the International Champions Cup on Saturday.

Riqui Puig had just missed a golden chance to win it for Barca when Milan countered, with Franck Kessie feeding substitute Silva to net the winning goal in a 1-0 victory at Levi's Stadium in stoppage time.

Barca had been the better side for large patches of the match before that but lacked a cutting edge in the final third.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Sevilla 1 - 2 Barcelona : Late Ousmane Dembele goal hands Barcelona Spanish Super Cup crown

Barcelona lifted the Spanish Super Cup for a record-extending 13th time by coming from behind to beat Sevilla 2-1 on Sunday thanks to a stunning strike from France winger Ousmane Dembele and a penalty save in stoppage time from Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

King's Cup runners-up Sevilla took a surprise lead in the traditional curtain-raiser to the season against Barcelona when Pablo Sarabia fired home in the ninth minute after Luis Muriel had powered his way through the Barca defence.

Gerard Pique levelled for Barca shortly before half-time by pouncing on the rebound after Lionel Messi's free kick had ricocheted off the post, while Sevilla's Franco Vazquez glanced a header off the crossbar in the second half in Tangier, Morocco.

The competition, which ditched its traditional two-legged format and was also played outside Spain for the first time, looked to be headed for extra-time until Dembele let fly from outside the area and his shot thumped in off the crossbar in the 78th minute.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 3 - 0 Boca Juniors : Lionel Messi, Malcom score as Barcelona beat Boca Juniors in Joan Gamper trophy match

Barcelona eased to a 3-0 win over Boca Juniors in the annual Joan Gamper trophy match at Camp Nou on Wednesday, with goals from Malcom, Lionel Messi and Rafinha leading the way.

A crowd of over 70,000 saw a strong Barca side establish a two-goal lead by the break thanks to efforts from €41 million summer signing Malcom and newly-appointed club captain Messi.

Barca coach Ernesto Valverde made eight changes at half-time, handing a Camp Nou debut to teenager Riqui Puig, whose smart turn allowed Malcom to go close again.

Rafinha, who's had a fine preseason, then added Barcelona's third, playing a neat one-two with Luis Suarez before lifting the ball over Andrada and volleying into an empty net.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 3 - 0 Alavés : Messi's brace lifts Barcelona to season-opening win

La Liga champions Barcelona began the new campaign with a 3-0 win over Alaves on Saturday with the help of a spectacular under-the-wall free kick from Lionel Messi, who scored twice, and a curling shot from substitute Philippe Coutinho.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Real Valladolid 0 - 1 Barcelona : Ousmane Dembele, VAR replay help Barcelona keep perfect La Liga start

A last-minute VAR decision helped Barcelona secure an unconvincing 1-0 La Liga win over newly-promoted Valladolid on Saturday.

After Ousmane Dembele gave the champions a 1-0 lead in the 57th minute, Keko thought he had snatched a stoppage-time equaliser for Valladolid but was denied the goal as the video assistant referee ruled that the winger had netted from an offside position.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

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Barcelona 8 - 2 Huesca : Barcelona hit eight past Huesca with Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez braces

Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez scored twice each as La Liga champions Barcelona turned on the style to hammer Huesca 8-2 on Sunday and join Real Madrid as the only teams in the league to win their opening three games.

Top-flight debutants Huesca took a shock early lead in their first league visit to the Nou Camp when Colombian forward Cucho Hernandez deflected the ball in from point-blank range but Messi soon dampened the celebrations of the visiting supporters by cannoning a shot in off the post to level in the 16th.

An own goal from Jorge Pulido gave Barca the lead and Suarez extended it by scoring for the first time in five games in all competitions after the video assistant referee (VAR) overturned an offside call from the linesman.

Huesca's Alex Gallar pulled one back before half-time to make it 3-2, but any hope of a revival from the visitors was soon killed off by three Barca goals in 11 minutes from Ousmane Dembele, Ivan Rakitic and another strike from Messi.

Jordi Alba capped a brilliant performance to score the seventh after setting up two of the earlier goals, while Suarez added No. 8 with a penalty in stoppage time as Messi turned down the chance to complete a hat trick, offering the spot kick to the Uruguayan instead.

The thrashing lifted Barca above Real Madrid at the top of the La Liga standings on goal difference after three games, with the Catalans scoring 12 and conceding two while Real have netted 10 and conceded twice.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)