MADRID, 25 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
FC Barcelona will face this Tuesday (at 2:30 a.m. on Wednesday in Spain), their fourth friendly match of the preseason against another important rival like the Italian Juventus, against whom they hope to confirm the good feelings they left in the Clásico.
At the moment, the mood and morale of the Blaugrana team is through the roof. The signings made and his victory and his football last Saturday in Las Vegas against Real Madrid by 0-1 have brought back the smile less than a month after the start of the official season.
The summer is to adjust the pieces, but it seems that Xavi Hernández is managing to hit the key and his team remains undefeated and undefeated after three games that have gradually raised the level. He started with the modest Olot (0-1) and then got rid of Inter Miami (0-6) with authority, before sending a message to the current European champion, whom he dismantled.
For now, all eyes are on Raphinha. The Brazilian winger has been shining in his two games and his goal against the Madrid team has aroused great enthusiasm among the ‘culé’ fans. The international, in any case, could be a substitute on this occasion and leave his place to Ousmane Dembélé who already knows that he has competition on the far right.
It may also be a good opportunity to continue watching Robert Lewandowski’s adaptation. The Polish striker was already able to make his debut in the Classic, where he was not able to have as much prominence and now he will try to demonstrate as soon as possible his goalscoring conditions against the ‘Vecchia Signora’, who have another ‘9’ in the form of the Serbian Dusan Vlahovic .
Xavi will continue to be without striker Ferran Torres, who is still recovering from the injury he sustained in his foot, and could test again a defense that is waiting to find out whether Frenchman Jules Koundé will land or not. In the Clásico, he opted for Ronald Araújo as a winger and the Uruguayan could return to the center of defense to team up with Lars Christensen or Eric García, or even with a Frenkie de Jong whose future is not clear and it seems that, for now, , you will have to find your minutes behind.
Juventus is already a classic rival for the Blaugrana in their preseason and this Tuesday at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas will be the sixth time that they will face each other in a summer friendly. The first were in 1969, in New York and Chicago with wins 3-2 and 1-0, while there was a two-way tie in 2003 in Boston, and again a 2-1 win in New Jersey in 2017. In addition, the ‘Vecchia Signora’ has twice been a rival at the Joan Gamper, with a draw in 2005 (2-2) and a 3-0 local victory last year.
The Turin team, which will also face Real Madrid and Atlético de Madrid this preseason, arrives with a less competitive pace as they have only played one friendly, against Mexican Guadalajara, with a 2-0 win. Vlahovic did not play a minute, while his two most important reinforcements did, the Argentine Ángel di María and the Frenchman Paul Pogba, who will finally be absent due to knee discomfort, who played the first 45.
