Barcelona got their pre-season campaign off to a winning start by beating Los Angeles Galaxy 2-1 in Pasadena this morning.
The MLS outfit looked on course to earn a hard-fought 0-0 draw at the break, but Luis Suarez poked home the opener with a minute remaining in the half.
Both sides made a raft of subs during the interval, but it was one of the Catalans' initial XI who added a second as Sergi Roberto thumped home on 56 minutes.
Tommy Meyer reduced the arrears in the dying moments to give the local fans something to cheer, but it was not enough to earn a draw.
Below, relive the routine win with our live text commentary.
Good morning ladies and gentlemen and thanks for joining our live text commentary of Barcelona's pre-season friendly with Los Angeles Galaxy - or, as Liverpool fans know it, a reunion between two of their club legends. Indeed, Steven Gerrard, now with Galaxy, comes up against his old teammate Luis Suarez at the Rose Bowl. This can only mean one thing: we'll see more diving than an Aquatic Centre. We're being cynical. Anywho, I'm Shane and I'll be guiding you through all of the action in Pasadena this morning as the treble winners look to kick-start their pre-season in style. Let's go.
Yep. This is Barcelona's first game since beating Juventus 3-1 last month. Was it only last month? Mental. Feels like it was 1994. That's what a lack of competitive club football will does to the mind. It feels like just last week when Fabian Delph verbally pledged his future to Aston Villa as well.
Where were we? Ah yes. Barcelona. It's their first game since winning the Champions League and crowning a remarkable first season in charge for Luis Enrique. But can they win the International Champions Cup? This is the big question. Enrique certainly wants to win it. He told Madeupquotes.com: "I certainly want to win it." There we have it.
If they are to get off to a winning start here then they'll need to do so without the services of two of that star-studded triumvirate. You won't see Lionel Messi tonight; partially because he's quite a small fellow, much like a hobbit, but mainly because he's not here. Neither is Neymar unfortunately.
Messi is recovering from an arduous and ultimately fruitless Copa America campaign, and perhaps getting his feet waxed, while Neymar is also on holiday after his Copa with Brazil. In fact, his tournament ended after the second game, having been sent off and subsequently slapped with a three-match ban. Naughty Neymar.
Furthermore, we also won't see any of Barca's summer signings in the form of Arda Turan or Aleix Vidal; partially because they're not here, but mainly because they can't make their debuts until January after the Catalans were slapped with a transfer ban. Naughty Barca.
Who will we see tonight then? Well there is, eh, Suarez. Pedro. Vermaelen - bizarrely. And a few La Masia boys who may or may not be playing alongside Peter Crouch with Stoke in the coming years. If ever there was an incentive to impress Mr Enrique. There's probably a poster of Bojan in the dressing room.
Anywho, let's go ahead and bring you full team sheets, shall we? Why not. Stay tuned.
BARCELONA XI: Masip; Rakitic, Sergio, Pedro, Luis Suarez, Rafinha, Bartra, Douglas, Sergi Roberto, Adriano, Mathieu
BARCELONA SUBS: Ter Stegen, J.Suárez, Piqué, Iniesta, Munir, Alba, Sandro, Vermaelen, Samper, Gumbau y Halilovic
LA GALAXY XI: Rowe; Gargan, DLG, Leonardo, Dunivant; Juninho, Walker; Maganto, Gerrard, Husidic; Keane
GALAXY SUBS: Wolverton, Vayrynen, Villarreal, Rogers, Buddle, Lletget, Meyer, Garcia, McBean, Jamieson, Mendiola, Steres, Lassiter, Romney
Otay, let's start with the visitors, shall we? They're the visitors and all. We've got a few heavy hitters. Suarez, of course, along with Pedro, who's been linked with Manchester United in recent days. Ivan Rakitic is brilliant as well. Then you've got few of the usual stop-gaps like Marc Bartra and Adriano and the like. I give it a 7/10 in terms of star power. The fans will be pleased.
On to Bruce Arena's side now, and the big man has of course included Stevie G. This is pre-season for him remember, even though his team are midway through their campaign. Meanwhile, Robbie Keane spearheads the attack.
Unlike Barcelona, whose season starts in about a month, Galaxy are in the middle of their MLS campaign. This must be frustrating so? Not according to Arena, who also told Madeupquotes.com: "It's not frustrating." There we have it.
Anywho, how are the Galaxy doing then? Not bad, of course. They're the reigning MLS Cup champions, currently second in the Western Conference, one point behind FC Dallas. And with the arrival of Gerrard, and Gio Dos Santos - who began his career with Barca, but he's not here for the reunion - you have to assume they'll safely qualify for the playoffs.
In fact, Gerrard got his MLS stint off to a winning start courtesy of the 5-3 win over San Jose Earthquakes last time out. Incidentally, he also found the net, while Keane bagged himself a hat-trick.
DID YOU KNOW? Both these heavyweights of their respective continents previously clashed back in 2009? Indeed. Pedro and Jeffren were on the scoresheet for the Catalans, who won 2-1. Who scored for the hosts? Can you guess who it is yet? Not Rolf Harris, but David Beckham! Remember him? He only did this:
Kobe Bryant has more boyhood clubs than Robbie Keane.
.@kobebryant spent time with one of his favorite soccer clubs today & traded his #Lakers armor for @FCBarcelona gear. pic.twitter.com/eT1NoS4YdV
— TWC SportsNet (@TWCSportsNet) July 20, 2015
Legends. pic.twitter.com/MRhbtg4x9R
— LA Galaxy (@LAGalaxy) July 21, 2015
Right, we're 10 minutes until showtime in Pasadena, which is about 16 miles from Hollywood. Lights. Camera. Action. There's no denying what the subplot is.
© Getty Images
We should note that this isn't the only big game we've got tonight. Nope. We've also got LIVE coverage of Manchester United's clash with San Jose. You can find this here. You're dead to me if you click it. That's all. Three minutes to go!
Games that take place in North America invariably start late. Why? We just don't know. I can confirm that we're one minute past kickoff and we haven't seen the players yet. Are any of them even here? We know plenty aren't.
Oh, hang on. This 80,000-strong crowd makes a bit of noise as the players seem poised to enter the field, but it's only Cozmo, the LA Galaxy mascot. We're still waiting for the players...
Aaaaaaaaaaaaand here are the lads. Interestingly, Cozmo got a better reaction. It was a bit muted for the actual players believe it or not. The players exchange pre-match handshakes now - and a hug for old friends Gerrard and Suarez - and we're minutes away now.
KICKOFF! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're off at the Rose Bowl. There's a huge roar as Galaxy get us underway. What a decent game this is. Stay tuned.
What do LA Galaxy and Peter Pan have in common? Both know what it's like to chase shadows. Since Galaxy kicked off, they haven't actually had the ball. Barca, as one might expect, are hogging this ball.
CHANCE! We could, and probably should, have seen the first goal. It's a wonderful in-swinging corner by Rakitic, as Marc Bartra runs into the space unmarked before glancing a header just wide.
Who needs Neymar and Messi? Not Barcelona. It's still 0-0 but they're playing some cracking stuff early on. Hard to believe it's their first pre-season outing.
This was promising from Galaxy, and two guesses who the architect was. Yep, Gerrard. He's on the left wing, before playing a fantastic reverse cross to the right flank, but the subsequent cross by Juninho into Keane is cut out by Mathieu.
Some beautiful one-touch play by Barcelona in and around the Galaxy box, but the MLS side do well to get it away in the end. Still, it's going to be a long, long, long night for the American outfit. It's one of those games where their players will lose about a stone apiece. Robbie Keane already looks in bits.
Well, 15 minutes in and it's still 0-0. The good news for Galaxy is that there's only six of these 15-minute periods left. The bad news is that there's six of these 15-minute periods left.
Uh oh. Gerrard's trademark raking ball goes out for a throw-in! At that moment, 80,000 people looked anywhere but the field to pretend it didn't happen. He's bound to be a bit rusty.
Lovely deft through ball by Gerrard to Keane there, but the Irishman is offside. Still, 20 minutes in and Galaxy...I won't say held their own, because they're being dominated, but their resilience is applaudable.
SHOT! This is the first time I've seen a Barcelona shoot from outside the box for a long time. And it's Suarez, whose half-volley flies wide, but not by much. It ends up smashing some poor photographer in the face I think. Still, he's in the right city if he needs a bit of surgery, eh?
SHOT! Another shot from Barca and it's Rafinha, who drags his effort well wide. Hmm. Wasn't great. Let's be honest.
GALAXY SUB: Galaxy forced into their first sub of the night/morning/what as Baggio Husidic comes off for Raul Mendiola. He's seemingly injured, but I think he's just shattered. I do that fake limp in astro all the time. He'll regret it when he gets his breath back.
Half-an-hour in and dare I suggest that Galaxy look quite comfortable now. Of course, they can't turn off for a minute because Barca have the quality to punish them, but the MLS side have defended well. They're organised. Still, there's an hour of football left so let's not start celebrating a draw just yet.
Barca aren't at the race. It's their first pre-season game, and a little rustiness is par for the course. So many of their would-be killer passes are over-hit and rolling out for goal kicks.
SAVE! What a save this is from Brian Rowe, who gets down lowe to parry away Suarez's curling effort. How many times have we seen Suarez put them away from that angle? Plenty. Fair play to the Galaxy stopper.
Worryingly for Galaxy, Barca just turning the screw now and Suarez looks certain to tap home Pedro's cross, but Leonardo does just enough to put off his Uruguayan counterpart at the critical moment. Good defending.
Five minutes until the break and very much a case of so far so good for Galaxy, who have limited their Catalan counterparts to very few goalscoring opportunities to speak of.
YELLOW CARD: Leonardo goes into the book for a cynical foul on Pedro. No complaints from him.
You know your defending pretty well when Barcelona are forced to adopt a shoot on sight policy. They're all at it; Pedro. Rafinha. Suarez. Pedro had the latest shot from outside the box, but it's blocked before it can trouble Rowe.
GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Galaxy (Luis Suarez)
HALF TIME: Barcleona 1-0 LA Galaxy
That's really unfortunate for Galaxy, who concede on the brink of half time as Suarez pokes home from close range following a bit of questionable defending from Leonardo.
Still, plenty for Bruce Arena to be pleased with. They defended quite brilliantly for the first, say, 44 minutes, with AJ De La Garza the stand-out performer in that stubborn rearguard, but they couldn't hold out until the break.
Anywho, why not have a listen to this gem while we wait on the second half. I'll see you soon. Very soon.
RESTART! Aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaand we're back underway. Can Galaxy get back into this or will Barca simply extend their lead further. And further. And further? Who knows.
CHANCE! Oh my. This definitely should've been 2-0 but Rafinha blazed well over from close range. Personally, I can see them winning this comfortably. That Suarez goal would've been a hammer blow to their belief.
By the way, it's a completely changed XI for the Galaxy: Wolverton; Rogers, Meyer, Steres, Romney; Lassiter, Garcia, Vayrynen, Mendiola; Buddle, Jamieson IV
Meanwhile, this mob came on for the visitors: Piqué, Iniesta, Munir, Alba, Sandro, and Vermaelen.
CHANCE! Another big, big chance goes begging for Barca, and it's Pique, who stays forward following a counter, and he looks certain to tap home Iniesta's delightful ball from out wide but Andrew Wolverton makes a point-blank save.
It's so hard seeing Galaxy get back into this one, isn't it? Firstly, they can't get the ball off Barca, which is a problem. Secondly, they don't have the composure needed to keep the ball by virtue of Barca's pressing, which is also a problem.
GOAL! Barcelona 2-0 LA Galaxy (Sergi Roberto)
That's that then. Galaxy fail to clear the danger, and the ball falls to Roberto, who thumps home the second from about 12 yards to effectively seal the victory. Lovely hard, low finish from the youngster, who's been linked with a move to Everton as of late
BARCA SUB: Off comes the second goalscorer Roberto to be replaced by 20-year-old Gerard Gumbau.
Andres Iniesta is a joy to watch against world-class teams, but against teams where there's a major disparity, he's just out of this world. He's toying with Galaxy in a professional manner here. He's just too good for them. Galaxy are doing very, very little in the final third. Their creativity was removed Gerrard, and the cutting edge left with Keane.
SHOT! This might just be Galaxy's first shot, and it's from Bradford Jamieson IV, who sounds a little like a pimp, but his volley here was well off target. That will probably be as close as Galaxy come to scoring tonight.
BARCA SUBS: Two more changes by the visitors, who replace Jose Suarez with goalkeeper Jordi Masip, while Alen Halilovic comes on for Rafinha.
Right, there's about 17 minutes left and both sides very much going through the motions now. Barca don't look bothered because they're too good, whereas Galaxy don't look bothered for the opposite reason. They haven't left a scratch on Enrique's side.
Ari Lassiter has been a breath of fresh air to the Galaxy in this second half but his vigour and skill hasn't been matched by his teammates as of yet unfortunately. There's still about 15 minutes, and Galaxy do look a little brighter in recent minutes, but a goal is still a big, big ask.
SHOT! If ever there was an example of how Barcelona are taking it easy, here it is: Iniesta, who hasn't shot from outside the box since 2004, goes for goal from about 30 yards but Wolverton makes a comfortable save.
SHOT! This is definitely going to be Galaxy's best chance, as Edson Buddle, in a three-on-three counter-attack, goes for glory from outside the box and Jose Suarez makes a comfortable save. Jamieson had pulled away to his left but he elected to shoot.
OFF THE BAR! Galaxy preserve some bit of pride thanks to the crossbar as Sandro rattles it with a fierce first-time drive that squirmed through a few bodies. He's been unlucky tonight.
Lassiter is furious. He would've had a one-on-one with Jose Suarez had Jamieson lifted his head and played him in, but the young striker dithered a little before having his pocket picked.
GOAL! Barcelona 2-1 LA Galaxy (Tommy Meyer)
Well that's a nice consolation for them. Defender Tommy Meyer reduce the arrears by beating Pique to a corner with a feint header past Suarez. It won't get them a draw, but they've salvaged that bit of pride.
FULL TIME: Barcelona 2-1 Los Angeles Galaxy
And that's all she wrote in the City of Angels. Barcelona ease to a comfortable win, far more comfortable than it looks on paper, courtesy of goals in either half from Luis Suarez and Sergi Roberto. Galaxy gave a good account of themselves - especially in the first half with some resolute defending - but it was men against boys in the end.
Anywho, there are plenty more pre-season friendlies on the horizon, and we've got all of the ones worth noting - Chelsea, Man City, Man United etc. Until the next one, stay classy folks.
Written by
Shane Callaghan
Shane Callaghan
