Barcelona - NouCamp Faithful

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 1 - 2 Chelsea : Chelsea beat Barca with Abraham, Barkley goals

Goals from Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley helped Chelsea beat Barcelona 2-1 in the Rakuten Cup on Tuesday as Ernesto Valverde's side kicked off their preseason with a defeat in Tokyo.

Abraham opened the scoring in the first half after a mistake from Sergio Busquets, with Barkley wrapping up the win from the edge of the box in the second half. Ivan Rakitic added a late consolation for the Spanish champions.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Vissel Kobe 0 - 2 Barcelona : Perez seals Barca win vs. Iniesta's Vissel Kobe

Carles Perez scored twice as Barcelona beat a Vissel Kobe side including Andres Iniesta 2-0 in the Rakuten Cup on Saturday in Japan.

Perez, a winger for Barca's B team, slotted through goalkeeper Daiya Maekawa's legs on the hour mark after a neat one-two with Malcom to open the scoring. Malcom came close to adding a second, thumping the bar from close range, before Perez netted his second late on as Barca picked up their first win of preseason following Tuesday's defeat to Chelsea.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 2 - 1 Arsenal : Barca need late Suarez strike to beat Arsenal

Luis Suarez struck in the final minute of the match as Barcelona came from behind to beat Arsenal 2-1 in the Joan Gamper Trophy at Camp Nou on Sunday.

Suarez came off the bench to turn home a lofted pass from Sergi Roberto in his first appearance of the summer. Ainsley Maitland-Niles' own goal had previously cancelled out Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang's brilliant opener in front of 98,812 fans in Barcelona.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 2 - 1 Napoli : Rakitic, Busquets score as Barca beat Napoli

(1st Leg)

Ivan Rakitic's second-half goal earned Barcelona a 2-1 win against Napoli on Wednesday as the Italians were made to pay for missing a string of chances at the Hard Rock Stadium.

Rakitic fired home from the edge of the box with 10 minutes remaining to give Barca the advantage in the inaugural La Liga-Serie A cup. A Samuel Umtiti own goal had earlier cancelled out Sergio Busquets' opener. The two sides meet in the second leg in Ann Arbor on Saturday.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Napoli 0 - 4 Barcelona : Griezmann nets first Barca goal in win over Napoli

(2nd Leg : Barcelona wins 6-1 on agg)

Barcelona tore Napoli apart in 15 second-half minutes as they won 4-0 at Michigan Stadium on Saturday in front of an attendance of just over 60,000.

Luis Suarez scored twice to take his pre-season tally to three, while there was also a first Barca goal for Antoine Griezmann since his €120 million move from Atletico Madrid earlier this summer. Ousmane Dembele completed the rout.

Barca's win comes three days after they beat Napoli 2-1 in Miami and sees them end their tour of the United States as the first-ever winners of the La Liga-Serie A Cup.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)[/QUOTE]

[lacoruna69]

Athletic Bilbao 1 - 0 Barcelona : Aduriz downs Barcelona with golazo

Lionel Messi was sorely missed as a lacklustre Barcelona were downed by an Aritz Aduriz golazo in a 1-0 loss to Athletic Bilbao in their La Liga season opener at San Mames on Friday night.

Substitute Aduriz smashed home a spectacular scissor-kick goal just after coming into the match to hand Athletic all three points and Barca a shock loss to start the season.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

As much as I have disliked Barcelona over the years, I have to say that they are worthy champions. They have easily been the best in Europe this year. The Messi, Neymar and Suarez trio is incredible, possibly the finest attacking trio we have seen in history.

I hope we Chelsea can improve in Europe next season, the way we got kncoked out this season was embarrassing.

[lacoruna69]

Originally Posted by Lorettadiold

As much as I have disliked Barcelona over the years, I have to say that they are worthy champions. They have easily been the best in Europe this year. The Messi, Neymar and Suarez trio is incredible, possibly the finest attacking trio we have seen in history.

I hope we Chelsea can improve in Europe next season, the way we got kncoked out this season was embarrassing.

Thanks for your comments.
But over the years, the team had come to be too dependent on Messi...probably his clout had grown too strong.

But Griezmann had proved they can still win without Messi n Suarez.
This frenchman World Cup winner is no fluke and totally worth the 120m pound fee.

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 5 - 2 Real Betis : Griezmann harkens Messi, LeBron in Barca win

With Lionel Messi and Luis Suarez watching from the stands, Antoine Griezmann came through for Barcelona by scoring twice to lead the Catalan club to its first Spanish league win of the season with a 5-2 rout of Real Betis on Sunday.

The newly signed France forward equalised for Barcelona after Betis opened the scoring at Camp Nou.

Carles Perez, Jordi Alba and Arturo Vidal also scored for Barcelona. Nabil Fekir and Loren Moron scored for Betis.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Osasuna 2 - 2 Barcelona : Ansu, 16, scores but Barca draw 2-2 at Osasuna

Ansu Fati became the youngest Barcelona player to score in La Liga but his side were held to a 2-2 draw away at Osasuna on Saturday.

Ansu -- aged 16 years and 298 days -- came on as a substitute and scored his first professional goal after six minutes to equalise for the Spanish champions.

Another substitute Arthur Melo scored his first goal for Barca in 45 appearances with a curling effort to put the visitors ahead.

The hosts took the lead early as Roberto Torres smashed a volley past Barca goalkeeper Marc-Andre Ter Stegen.

Barca dominated possession throughout and went ahead through strikes from Ansu and Arthur in the second half.

With less than 10 minutes to go, the hosts were awarded a penalty when the ball struck Gerard Pique's arm and Torres grabbed his second from the spot.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 5 - 2 Valencia : Teen Ansu sets La Liga mark in runaway Barca win

Luis Suarez scored twice in his return for Barcelona and Ansu Fati had another stellar showing as they made short work of Valencia in a 5-2 win at the Camp Nou with an injured Lionel Messi looking on from the sidelines.

The hosts raced out to a 2-0 lead with teenager Ansu scoring the first goal and setting up the second for new arrival Frenkie de Jong inside of 10 minutes.

The early heroics made Fati the youngest player to both score and assist in a La Liga game in the 21st century, according to Opta, as the 16-year-old phenom starred in his first start on Saturday.

Fati's goal also sees him reach the two-goal mark at Barca in just his third game, while it took Messi 13 matches to score his second for the Catalans.

Kevin Gameiro finished off a nice team move to pull one back for Valencia before half-time, with the referee consulting VAR to award the goal after the linesman's flag had initially gone up for offside.

Gerard Pique restored Barca's two-goal lead shortly after the restart, pouncing on a rebound from a well-hit Antoine Griezmann shot and tapping it home.

Substitute Suarez, back from a spell on the sidelines with an injury, produced a moment of brilliance shortly after coming on, faking a pass to his right and then curling a shot past Jasper Cillessen at the near post to make it 4-1.

The Uruguay international then added a second at the near post, picking up a loose ball in the penalty area and once again curling it just out of the reach of Cillessen.

Valencia scored a meaningless late goal through Maxi Gomez to reach the final scoreline as Barca eased to three important points on a day that table-toppers Atletico Madrid lost.

Next up for Barcelona is their Champions League group stage opener against Borussia Dortmund on Sept. 17, a match which Messi is also expected to miss.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Borussia Dortmund 0 - 0 Barcelona : Messi makes debut as Barca draw in Dortmund

Borussia Dortmund hit the woodwork and had a penalty saved before drawing 0-0 with Barcelona in their Champions League Group F opener on Tuesday, with Lionel Messi making his first appearance of the season for the Spaniards.

Barca's in-form 16-year-old Ansu Fati became the club's youngest player to feature in a UEFA competition when he started, but he failed to make any real impact before being replaced by fit-again Messi just before the hour mark.

Even after the Argentine took the field, it was the Germans who were more dangerous, with captain Marco Reus' 57th-minute penalty saved by Marc Andre ter Stegen.

Reus was denied twice more by Ter Stegen and Julian Brandt rattled the crossbar with a thundering shot in the 77th.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Granada 2 - 0 Barcelona : Promoted Granada shock Barcelona to go top

Promoted Granada moved into first place in La Liga after a convincing 2-0 win over Barcelona on Saturday took them to 10 points and into a tie with Sevilla in top spot.

The result marks the worst start to a La Liga season in 25 years for the Catalan giants.

The hosts, who had only beaten Barca once in their last 20 meetings, took an early lead when Ramon Azeez headed home from close range to make it 1-0 in just the second minute.

Lionel Messi, still working his way back to full fitness and playing in his first La Liga game of the season so far, was brought on at half-time for Carles Perez to help Barca find their way back into the game.

However, it was Granada that would score again when a handball in the penalty area was called on Arturo Vidal and Alvaro Vadillo converted from the spot after a consultation with VAR confirmed the ruling.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Barcelona 2 - 1 Villarreal : Barcelona bounce back but Messi limps off

Barcelona secured a much-needed 2-1 home victory over Villarreal in La Liga on Tuesday, racing to a two-goal lead inside 15 minutes before hanging on after Santi Cazorla halved the deficit on the stroke of halftime.

Antoine Griezmann headed Barcelona in front after six minutes, darting in at the near post to meet a Lionel Messi corner.

Brazilian Arthur doubled the lead with a spectacular strike from distance as it appeared the Catalans would put their recent troubles away from home behind them, having lost to promoted Granada at the weekend.

However, Barca's tempo dropped when Messi had to leave the field for treatment on the half-hour and they were perhaps distracted by their talisman's injury problem when they were pegged back just before the interval.

Cazorla's long-range effort left home keeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen red-faced as he misjudged the swerving shot to allow the visitors back into the game.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)

[lacoruna69]

Getafe 0 - 2 Barcelona : Ter Stegen assist helps Messi-less Barcelona win

Barcelona continued their recovery from a poor start to the season with a 2-0 win at Getafe thanks to goals from Luis Suarez and Junior Firpo.

Barca, who only won two of their first five La Liga games of the campaign, have now recorded consecutive victories despite being without injured trio Lionel Messi, Ansu Fati and Ousmane Dembele.

Suarez opened the scoring in the 41st minute in unlikely circumstances with the assist coming from goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.

And Ernesto Valverde's side made sure of the points four minutes after the break when Junior scored from close range.

(excerpt from ESPN Soccernet)