BARCELONA, 25 May. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Barça said goodbye to the season this Wednesday in Sydney (Australia) with a victory (2-3) against a selection of A-League players, in a friendly match with a farewell aroma for some players who might not wear the shirt again blaugrana next year, and also partying by visiting the ‘aussie’ country for the first time in its history.
Xavi Hernández’s men took the lead in the first half, with a shot from Ousmane Dembélé, who enjoyed the best chances before the break. However, Dwight Yorke’s ‘A-League All Stars’ did not give up and with a brilliant restart they put the Blaugrana on the ropes.
In less than ten minutes, the locals came from behind after taking advantage of a bad clearance in the 47th minute by Arnau Tenas, who came on for Ter Stegen at half-time. Australian Reno Piscopo made it 1-1 and the Australians’ second goal came from his boots, after going on the counterattack and leaving Western Sydney FC’s Adama Traoré from Ivory Coast in front of the rival goal to get ahead on the scoreboard.
Barça got their act together and Xavi moved the bench to tie the match. Unlike Luuk de Jong, the attacker Adama Traoré managed to score in his possibly last game as a culé to put the friendly in a draw, which would finally end up opting for the Catalans with an unappealable shot by Ansu Fati (77′) -which returned to enjoy a few minutes after his injury– after a masterful play by Antonio Aranda.
The big party, with 70,174 Australian spectators in the stands, moved onto the pitch with a string of goals from both sides. In this way, FC Barcelona won its first match in its history on Australian soil, which puts an end to a blank season at the level of titles for Xavi’s men.