Pre-season (Game 1): Bayern Munich vs Barcelona

- Valdes, Pique, Alba, Alves, Busquets, Xavi, Cesc, Iniesta, Pedro, Neymar (still on holidays).
- Afellay, Cuenca, Puyol (recovering from Injury)
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Available players:

- 1st team: Pinto, Oier, Montoya, Bartra, Mascherano, Adriano, Song, Sergi Roberto, Dos Santos, Messi, Tello and Alexis.

- B Team players:

Ilie Sánchez: He’s one of the most versatile players in the reserve side. He started out as an attacking midfielder before he took ownership of the holding midfielder position, and, years prior, he played as a right full back. He excels due to his simple and efficient play style, his passes are intelligent and he’s adept at positioning himself well. He conserves the possession, he receives the ball well and he’s a textbook Barça passer.

Carles Planas: Fast, intense and demanding player who can play as a left full back or in the middle of the defence. He joined Barça’s youth system at the age nine, and he’s moved up the ranks ever since. The absence left backs makes him nearly indispensable for Eusebio Sacristán’s Barça B. He made his first team debut in a Cup match against Alavés at the Camp Nou (3-1).

Sergi Gómez: His steady development has made him one of Eusebio’s go-to men at Barça B. Strong and physically dominant, this player excels in areal play on both sides of the pitch. He anticipates plays well and he’s difficult to beat in one-on-ones. He made his first team debut in the 2010/11 season, in the away leg of the Spanish Super Cup against Sevilla (3-1).

Joan Román: This player is a versatile and technical attacking midfielder. He’s excellent at taking defenders on and his pace allows him to function effectively on both the right and left wings of Barça B’s attack. Thanks to his goalscoring capability, he’s also played as a centre forward. In fact, he scored both the goals in Barça B’s debut preseason match a couple of days ago against Escala. He also has international experience, as he spent three seasons in Barça’s Juvenil team and he also featured for Manchester City’s reserve side.

Kiko Femenía: This player was formed in Hércules’ youth academy and he was considered to be one of the best wingers of the Draft 2011 Awards. Having featured in over 70 Primera matches in his career, the Valencia-born player’s versatility allows him to play as an attacking winger and as a right full back. He made his debut for Barça’s senior side in the 2011 Joan Gamper Trophy.

Javier Espinosa: This midfielder has always shined because of his skill on the ball and controlled gallops down the pitch. His game vision and subsequent choices on the pitch is reminiscent of a young Iniesta. Despite not enjoying the amount of game time in the past, this season looks to be Espinosa’s year to play a more pivotal role for Barça B.

Patric Gabarrón: He initially started out as a midfielder but Eusebio has repositioned him as right winger, and the ex-Villarreal player has performed beautifully ever since. The player has great game vision, and his seemingly inexhaustible work rate makes him an asset in Barça B’s midfield.

Dongou Tsafack: The Cameroonian is a quick and skillful striker. He stands out thanks to his goalscoring prowess and for the number of goals he’s netted in each tier of Barça’s youth academy. Despite his age – he made his debut for Barça B at the age of 17 – he’s already played an entire season for Barça B.

Dani Nieto: This quick and technical forward is known for his excellent shot with his left foot. He's also a proficient crosser and skillful when it comes to taking on defenders. He has a lot of experience in Segunda as he played for Girona and Alcorcón.

Jordi Quintillà: ‘Quinti’ plays in Barça B’s midfield. A quality player with excellent game vision, he stands out for his gritty sacrifice throughout the 90 minutes of play. Last season he was loaned to Badalona after not getting playing time with Barça’s reserve side, and he took advantage of the opportunity. He’s returned to Barça eager to win a spot in Eusebio’s starting line-up.

Sergi Samper: He started his Barça career at the age of nine after spending time in Barça’s FCBEscola system, which makes him a 100% FC Barcelona product. This defensive midfielder is crucial to Barça B as he brings equilibrium and direction to his team-mates. the Barcelona-born player’s great technical ability, combined with his on-point game vision and positioning, makes him a very influential player in Eusebio’s team. Even though he’s very young, he’s reminiscent of a former Barça B player, Sergio Busquets.

http://www.fcbarcelona.com/football/barca-b/detail/article/in-depth-look-at-the-11-reservists-training-with-the-senior-side

Lineup predictions:

Pinto
Montoya Bartra Masche Adriano
JDS Song Roberto
Alexis Messi Tello

the amount of screwed we are is unbelievable

No need to be so down.

Bayern played like half a dozen games or more, and even a competitive one...we havent done anything. Even if we were a better side or even a equal side, it would be pretty uphill.

Its preseason, do you really care about results?

Without a coach we dont get to see new ideas which is a shame but at least we can see what some kids have got.

Looking forward to see Samper, Dongou, Gomez and Espinosa getting some playing time.

Oh I know it's just a pre-season match, and that it's not going to have much of a bearing on our season.

The players are down about Tito which might affect the outcome (though, it could go the other way, and play their hearts out for Tito). I think the biggest difference would be fitness levels (and we can't blame our team, they're now coming back from a break), so I'm not expecting much.

With all things considered, we are probably going to lose, hence why I said we are screwed.

Pre season means nothing.

Let's just give the kids a run about and hopefully have an entertaining game. That's all I really want in pre-season anyway.

Preseason means having aq lot of fun around the world with teammates....ofcourse it matters a lot to newcomers and the youth to get an early ticket for the first team......
i am looking forward to this match......
the only shame is we dont have a coach. may be Rubi will be leading.....
BTW, do you guyz think kiko has the first team potential. There was hype when he was recruited but not so much i think after a season....

It will be funny watching Bayern play more like a Pep team than Barcelona. Who would have thought this when Ribery was crying after that 4-0 drubbing at the Camp Nou. Football is one hell of a sport...

As long as we don't play Adriano at CB and Planas at LB instead of Bartra.
Real time for Bartra to to step up and show that he is quality and worthy to have more game time than last season.
Hoping Roberto shines throughout this preseason...

Bayern will be interesting game. I think we will not have a coach in time for the match though, and we will not have most of our starters, which is bad, but really interesting to see what they can do.

Reading Khaled's B players review it makes the impression all of them are world beaters.  
The truths is that all of them are scrubs* except Samper and maybe Espinosa.


*When I say they are scrubs, I mean they have no chance of making it to our first team. Players like Planas, Roman or Dongou are not really bad and could have good careers ahead.

When is the game?

free_cat wrote:Reading Khaled's B players review it makes the impression all of them are world beaters.  
The truths is that all of them are scrubs* except Samper and maybe Espinosa.


*When I say they are scrubs, I mean they have no chance of making it to our first team. Players like Planas, Roman or Dongou are not really bad and could have good careers ahead.

It wasn't Khaled's Review. He copied it from FCBarcelona's Website. The link is at the end of his post. ^^

M99 wrote:When is the game?

Wednesday 24th, of July. 18:30 CET.

Harmonica wrote:Bayern will be interesting game. I think we will not have a coach in time for the match though, and we will not have most of our starters, which is bad, but really interesting to see what they can do.

Tata joins the team and meets them for the first time after our 2nd friendly. Roura and Rubi will be in charge for the Bayern and (forget the name of the 2nd friendly team we are playing).

I hope we play allot of our youngsters. Hell, the majority of our team won't be joining until late next week since they get extended break due to Confeds. I expect a total dubbing, and tbh it's going to hurt my heart seeing our own Thiago running circles all over our midfield

Match will start 5 minutes. HT will be 10 minutes, not 15.

wtf.....

Official startin 11

Bayer Munich Team
Neuer; Rafinha, Dante, Boateng, Alaba; Thiago, Lahm, Kroos; Ribéry, Robben y Müller.

Barcelona Team
Pinto; Montoya, Bartra, Mascherano, Adriano; Song, Jonathan dos Santos, Sergi Roberto; Alexis, Messi Tello

Awful game from our players and especially mascherano so far. 1-0 lahm.

oh sergi...

Bartra and montoya very bad too. Only players doing well are Roberto and Messi.

We are recovering now. Some good stuff from bartra, dos santos and Tello who almost scored. Alexis invisible and wasting every attack.

Awful Mascherano, worst player in the pitch. We should sell him asap. Don't think so with Tata...

I wont go super negative, I mean the guys are obviously way below the level required in terms of preperation and fitness.

That back line is god awful though, minus Adriano, all 3 of them are suffering defensively and offensively..im not sure which is worse.

Montoya getting raped by Ribery, Mascherano is just amatuer and Bartra is diving into tackles when staying on your feet is the course of action. Getting pressed and these 3 are giving balls away real bad.

But yeah, its not that different than what I expected. We made 3 or 4 scoring chances though on the plus side.

free_cat wrote:We are recovering now. Some good stuff from bartra, dos santos and Tello who almost scored. Alexis invisible and wasting every attack.

Get new glass......
i believe we wasted money on him....but that does not change the fact that you need new glasses....
About the match....impressed with pinto's performance, cant say the same about any of our defenders...
Sergi Roberto, probably have impressed every time he played for first team....Its a shame we could not score...but i am happy we created some very good scoring chances vs their best eleven,.,.....

Ohhh...byern's pressing game is really very enjoyable...specially their set pieces....they look so confident on every set pieces, specially the movement of the players during set pieces...