Barcelona’s pre-season preparation directed by new faces. Who shone?

Pre-season friendlies are mainly used to warm up the players, to gain match pace and as an opportunity for new players from B-teams or other clubs to show their best. This is of course not the case for Barcelona of Catalonia, who have played three preliminary matches so far and two more, including the Gamper Cup against Juventus Turin, are still to come.

Barcelona vs. Gimnastic

Barcelona played its first match against Spanish Gimnastic and, as expected, it won 4:0. Twenty-four year old forward Rey Manaj made his presence felt the most when he managed to score a hat-trick despite playing only the second forty-five minutes.

Last year Manaj played for Barcelona’s B-team, but right from the edge of training he showed that he should be considered as one of the alternatives for the first team attack.

Barcelona vs. Girona

In the next match of the preparation so far, the Blaugranas faced Girona and after ninety minutes the Barcelona players were happy with a partial victory with a score of 3: 1. The Albanian Manaj scored again and was later replaced by the new arrival from Lyon, Memphis Depay.

The Dutchman’s name was also on the scorer’s list after a penalty in the 85th minute. The performance of Alex Collado, the twenty-two-year-old right winger and captain of Barcelona’s reserve team last season, was also expected.

Stuttgart vs. Barcelona

The last match so far was played in Stuttgart, Germany, where the home side lost to Barcelona 3-0. The promising 18-year-old winger Yusuf Demir from Austria made his presence felt in Germany.

Demir came to Catalonia on loan from Rapid Vienna and although he was originally supposed to be considered for the B team, he has shown since the first game that he definitely has something to offer to Ronald Koeman’s team.

Against Stuttgart, Depay scored again, which ignited the hopes of all the Catalan colossus fans that there will be no shortage of a potent scorer.

Youth forward

The only 16-year-old midfielder Gavi also left a very good impression. The Barcelona graduate has been the engine of the midfield line every time he has been on the pitch, and apart from the talent he possesses, he certainly doesn’t lack the necessary diligence and desire to work on himself, according to his teammates Eric Garcia and Oscar Minguez.

He looks like he could be the continuation of a long line of admirably technical midfielders from the La Masia workshop.

Another promising looking footballer is Nicolas Gonzalez, better known simply as Nico. The Spanish midfielder has been playing in his favourite position in training, that of defensive midfielder, a position occupied for many years by Sergio Busquets. But the thirty-three-year-old midfielder certainly won’t mind having someone to pass his valuable experience to. Nico is only 19 years old and has his whole career ahead of him.

For a long time, it has been a problem for the Catalan to find a quality and full-fledged alternative at left-back. But that could be the end of it. Eighteen-year-old full-back Alejandro Balde, a product of Barcelona’s renowned academy, certainly hasn’t disappointed and may have turned the club’s sporting directorate on its head with his performances, as like Demir he has been sorted more into the B-team. However, he may have claimed a permanent place alongside Jordi Alba with his performances.

Source: Livesport