Chelsea stun Barcelona 2-1 during Rakuten match final – Weekly Citizen

Barcelona were beaten by Chelsea in their first pre-season  Rakuten match in Saitama on Tuesday July 23.

Barcelona manager  Valverde handed debuts to new signings Antoine Griezmann, Frenkie de Jong and Neto, while youngsters Riqui Puig, Oriol Busquets, Alex Collado, Guillem Jaime and Carles Perez were also featured.

The Blues had an upper hand in terms of pre-season training as they overshadowed Barcelona in striking that saw them beat the Catalans 2-1.

Chelsea

Barcelona started the game very well with the new signing Antoine Griezmann playing lively. However the blues had better chances during the first half.

Chelsea’s opener was by Tammy Abraham  after 34 minutes and Ross Barkley sealed it with nine minutes of normal time remaining. Ivan Rakitic pulled one back with a cracker in stoppage time.

Griezmann against Chelsea

The team squads included

Barcelona 1st half: Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba, Busquets, O.Busquets, Riqui Puig, Collado, Griezmann, Dembelé.

Barcelona 2nd half: Neto, Semedo, Todibo, Lenglet, Guillem Jaime, De Jong, Rakitic, Aleñá, Malcom, Carles Pérez, Rafinha.

Chelsea: Kepa; Azpilicueta (Bakayoko), Christensen (Tomori), David Luiz, Emerson; Jorginho (Drinkwater), Kovacic; Pedro (Batshuayi), Mason Mount (Barkley), Pulisic (Giroud); Abraham