Memphis Depay (l) shoots against De Siglio, of Juventus.
Photo: Alejandro García / EFE
Barcelona could with Juventus (3-0) and with the shadow of Leo Messi in the first Joan Gamper Trophy without the Argentine, longed for by a crowd that chanted his name and for a dressing room that remembered him in the pre-match parliaments.
Once the ball rolled, Barça’s first goal came in the first Barça attack. A triangulation in minute 3 between Braithwaite, Demir and Memphis Depay was used by the Dutch to break through only the center of the defense and beat Sczesny wisely in one-on-one.
Everything seemed joy after the culé goal, with the fans, finally back in the stadium, cheering every good action of their players, who were very mobile, wasting verticality and wanting to like.
Still in this rejoicing of happiness, Dest was encouraged in the 7th minute from outside the area, but his shot did not find the sticks of the Italian frame.
The rejoicing was quickly forgotten when in the 10th minute the stands, who had whistled Pjanic and Umtiti in the presentation, chanted the name of the great absentee, Leo Messi, in tribute to the Argentine’s number.
Juventus took advantage of the melancholy to stretch with the ball and braid several long possessions. Ronaldo sought to crown the improvement of his team in the quarter hour of the game with a shot without an angle that Neto cleared somewhat in a hurry.
The worst of Barça was seen in the slow defensive transitions, but Morata’s little mettle prevented two cons from going to more. Nor was Griezmann correct in the 20th, since the Frenchman’s offside position at the time of kicking invalidated Demir’s subsequent goal, which had pushed the rebound.
The young Austrian touched the goal again in the 29th minute thanks to a great individual play that culminated in a low and dry shot, repelled by Sczesny’s left boot.
The Polish goalkeeper was saved from conceding the second at 37 due to a referee error. The assistant pointed out a non-existent offside to Braitwhaite and broke the illusions of Griezmann, who had managed to beat the transalpine door.
If then Juventus was saved, a minute later Barça was saved in a crazy end of the first half, when Neto managed to repel two very clear attempts from within the area, one from De Ligt and the other from Morata.
The Spaniard was able to tie again two minutes before halftime and again ran into the Barça goalkeeper, who denied him the goal at the end of a great choral counterattack, as he also did in the 45th to a free kick from Ronaldo.
The second half was born colder, a carousel of changes in the Jventus by means of, until in 50 the newly incorporated Chiesa returned to test Neto, grown after his good interventions in the first act.
The Turin team put Barcelona in trouble for several minutes, especially in speedy starts and corner kicks, always finished off against the Barça defense.
Paradoxically, Barça doubled their advantage in the 57th minute from the corner kick. Braitwhaite, all conviction, sent a Memphis center into the net with a very strong header.
When it was time for the game, Koeman moved the bench to make his debut for Emerson and give entry to Nico González and Umtiti, booed insistently, while Allegri finished changing the eleven completely.
The stoppage of the changes was good for the Catalans, determined to regain control, and at the same time calmed the spirits of the Italian team.
Griezmann took the leading role and tried to involve both the youngsters and the newcomer Emerson, nervous in his early stages as a Barça player.
The other Barça winger, Memphis Depay, had another good chance in the 78th minute by impaling a ball rained from a series of rebounds from the penalty spot. The shot, forced, hit the doll.
When the game died and the echoes of new songs to Messi sounded, Riqui Puig put, in the last play, the finishing touch to Gamper with a third goal from the edge of the area.