Barcelona wrapped up its preseason tour of the United States with a 1-0 win over AC Milan in Las Vegas before the beginning of the LaLiga campaign.
Match Report
The Spanish giants dominated their Italian rivals in a preseason friendly in Sin City before looking to defend their LaLiga title next week.
Raphinha and EZ Abde gave Xavi's side an attacking edge in the first half but it was Ansu Fati, who was introduced after the break, who finally broke the deadlock.
The 20-year-old, along with Alejandro Balde came on in the second half, and terrorized AC Milan on the right flank, with the duo combining in the 55th minute to find the back of the net.
Balde charged forward and laid off the ball to Fati just inside the box, who cut inside with the outside of his foot.
From the edge of the box, Fati let rip a screamer of a goal into the top corner, leaving Mike Maignan with no hope of making the save.
Fati immediately ran over to Ousmane Dembele on the sidelines to celebrate the goal.
Dembele, who wasn't used in the game, stood watching with his hood up amid links to Paris Saint-Germain.
Dembele had reportedly rejected Barcelona's latest contract offer, with the 26-year-old keen for a fresh start after six seasons at the Nou Camp.
The French side reportedly beat the clock to trigger his £43m release clause on Monday and has until Sunday to complete the deal, according to L'Equipe.
The Blaugrana will now travel back to Spain where they will face Tottenham for the Joan Gamper Trophy on August 11 in their final preseason game before kickstarting their title defense against Getafe on August 13.
Meanwhile, USA star and new Milan signing Christian Pulisic failed to taste victory on home soil with the Rossoneri, who lost to Real Madrid and drew to Juventus while Stateside this summer.
Match Events
0' The match is about to start!
8' Yellow Card! Alonso booked
9' Araujo's header stopped
12' Kounde's shot hits the bar
18' CLOSE! Reijnders' shot stopped
21' Raphinha's long shot stopped
29' Yellow Card! Loftus-Cheek booked
43' Leao's shot stopped
50' Leao's shot over the bar
55' GOAL! Milan 0-1 Barcelona (Fati)
63' Romeu's header wide out
67' OFFSIDE! Araujo's goal disallowed
77' Yamal's shot wide out
Line-ups
Milan XI: Giroud, Florenzi, Maignan, Loftus-Cheek, Krunic, Tomori, Theo, Pulisic, Tijjani Reijnders, Leao, Malick Thiaw
Subs: Kjaer, Mirante, Sportiello, Tommaso Pobega, Yacine Adli, Alexis Saelemaekers, Lorenzo Colombo, De Ketelaere, Kalulu, Luka Romero, Chaka Traorè, Jan-Carlo Simic, Davide Bartesaghi, Kevin Zeroli
Barcelona XI: Romeu, Alonso, Pena, Ferran Torres, Raphinha, Kounde, Ronald Araújo, Eric Garcia, Pedri, Abde Ezzalzouli, Fermín López
Subs: Lewandowski, Gundogan, Ter Stegen, Roberto, I. Martinez, Christensen, Lenglet, Kessie, Dembele, De Jong, Dest, Fati, Mikayil Faye, Álex Baldé, Marc Casadó, Aleix Garrido, Gavi, Álex Valle, Ander Astralaga, Lamine Yamal
Yungswag20
607
Demble leaving Real Madrid with bad memories ❤️💙 good by demble 😭
Alhafson
588
vAr is checking if there is a space left in araujo's pocket
AminuSalmanu
570
we are ready for the champions league
Yungswag20
554
Barca kids nowadays ❤️💙
CurenT
527
🗣️; He went To Celebrate His Goal With Ousmane Dembele What a wholesome 🤗. Moment 💙♥️🔥
oz_nuestro
527
Yamal can replace Ousmane who agree?
RAPHAEL28
525
LAMINE YAMAL WAS JUST TOYYONG WITH THEO HERNANDEZ 💎
Yungswag20
506
Rafhina needs player like blade on his side
realBull
487
Is it me or did Lamine Yamal played better than raphiha? These youngsters are great, hopefully they develop well.
Yungswag20
478
This is what is football for sometimes you gotta admire your opponent performance
HIRO237
472
When he starts running you can’t catch him,Carvajal knows better Balde our golden boy 🔵🔴
Shmonny
459
Barcelona today, Barcelona tomorrow, Barcelona forever ✊❤️💙❤️💙💯
Alhafson
435
I want to be the first to comment but It looks like some people slept here
sikaputafernando
412
In other news pray for this player for this bad injury after Marcello stepped on him 💔💔💔🤭🤭
HIRO237
407
This guy is good, no cap about that. Very unpredictable, he shots the ball without even taking any shooting positions that’s world class performance 👏
Shmonny
401
No Barcelona fan will skip this 💯
CurenT
352
🗣️' Ansufati Redemption Season Loading Get prepared🔥🎯🇪🇸
Alhafson
339
kounde and araujo be like vini is there a free space inside there cause leao want to move in
CaboRealMadridPekin
307
Just a reminder 🙋🏾♂️
Kingval60
268
ALEJANDRO BALDE IS GOING TO THE VERY TOP.🚀🚀🌟 HIS PERFORMANCE WAS SO OUTSTANDING IN TODAY'S MATCH THE FUTURE IS HERE 💫💫✨
GobindaRanaXettri
264
Fc Barcelona is cooking can’t wait to bring back the champions league home 💙❤️
WICKED196
222
All I can say is Alex Balde is a priceless GEM 💎 I pray he get more playing time with good health 🙏
cj1
219
1 nil better than nothing, nice game from both team, Hope Barcelona will have a great season once again ❤️
Brendae
193
Gif here. Like me: http://www.goalgif.xyz/v2/live/matchGifs?match_id=53603876&language=en
fasorantifolorunso
191
haters who think BARCELONA 🧢 and Xavi 💯 team we fade away this Season 🙄 no real BARCA Fans We skip without like ✅👌🌟
Essa22traore
140
Ansu Fati: black is always great
Sataikosz
112
I cant remember a day balde played nonsense. just saying
Kingval60
107
Vinicius to Rafael Leao after been in Araujo’s pocket in the first half
Kingval60
84
initial thoughts on this match Abde looked sharp,he just needs to work on his finishing touches •Oriol Romeu is a baller.🔥 •Raphinha was average. •Ansu Fati;this is his season.🌟 •Balde is out of this world. •Pedri was exceptional as always •Araujo is the best defender itw🔥
Kinginbojan
41
*Raphinna is not a reliable, creative winger.. he gambles and lost possession a lot, not creative, poor vision, one on one he cant dribble pass a player. We need to sell him as fast as possible and get a prolific winger since Dembele is leaving. *Fati is a good player he just need a lot of playing time to gain confidence and experience Balde is extra ordinary player i love his pace, agility, and defense. *Balde and Fait have good chemistry *Alonso need to be sold and we need a good back up for balde *Eric garcia can still be a backup defender *Yamal has a brighter future, i love his confidence and ability to cut in and shoot! *Pena had a good day. *Araujo can only play defensively as a stopper, him playing as a wing back will reduce our quality in attack, i will prefer Kounde in that position except we are playing Madrid. *Romeo is all what we need as a cdm, he just need to improve on his vision and pass. *Pedri is good but we need more work rate and killer passes from him as our playmaker *Dejong is a fantastic midfielder, he still remain our nest midfielder i love his composure *Lewandoski is reserved, we all know what he’s capable of *Torres is not in Barca level, maybe as a back up in small match but we need to sell him as fast as possible to avoid loss in value.