مدير عام كرة القدم
- Barcelona beat FC Seoul 7-3 in friendly
- Yamal and Torres score braces in the win
- Rashford grabs his first assist for Barca
Barcelona immediately showed off their quality on the ball as Lamine Yamal found Pedri inside the box with a backheel pass before the midfielder shot wide. The 18-year-old then showed exactly why he is a Ballon d’Or candidate as he glided through the FC Seoul defence before firing a shot that rebounded off the post for Robert Lewandowski to tap it in for his first goal of the season. Just minutes later, Yamal doubled the Catalan side’s lead with a spectacular long-range strike after another mazy run.
That did not turn out to be a killer blow, though, as Seoul fought back with two goals in the space of 20 minutes. The comeback began when Yamal lost possession cheaply near his own box and Cho Young Wook scored with a well-taken finish. Seoul’s second goal came on the back of a delightful Lingard flick, which built up towards a brilliantly worked goal that saw Yazan Al-Arab fire past Barca goalkeeper Joan Garcia.
Yamal then decided to turn it on once again in injury time of the first half to put Barca back in the lead after Dani Olmo’s delightful through ball. The Blaugrana’s new No.10 sat a Seoul defender down with a clever dummy before unleashing a thunderous shot to double his goal account.
Head coach Hansi Flick rang the changes for the second half, with new loan signing Marcus Rashford looking lively right from the off. However, it was Andreas Christensen’s spectacular long-range strike that opened the floodgates for Barca in the 55th minute. Ferran Torres and Gavi both followed up with goals of their own before FC Seoul grabbed one back through Han-min Jung. Torres then had the final say as he got on the end of a deft pass from Rashford to close out a thumping 7-3 victory for Barca.
As it was last season, Yamal was at the centre of all the action through the first half as the 18-year-old superstar managed to set up the first goal of the game and then scored a brace himself before being rested for the second half with the Man of the Match prize sewn up. Gavi also impressed as he eyes a return to top form after an injury-ravaged 2024-25 campaign. He managed to control the second half through midfield and also scored Barcelona’s sixth on the night.
Joan Garcia did not have a very notable game against FC Seoul; however, Marcus Rashford bagged his first goal contribution in Blaugrana as he set up Torres for Barcelona’s seventh goal of the game. Roony Bardghji only had one major involvement in the game this time, which was a wayward pass back to Wojciech Szczesny that almost ended in a goal for Seoul.
Jofre Torrents’ name has been thrown around the footballing world alongside Dro Fernandez, and the highly talented left-back showed off his quality with his assist for Torres’ first goal of the night.
Barcelona will now end their tour of Asia with a clash against Daegu FC on August 4 before they head back to Catalonia for the Joan Gamper Trophy clash against Cesc Fabregas’ Como.
