Barcelona picked up a huge pre-La Liga boost with a hard-fought win over arch-rivals Real Madrid on their tour of the USA.
The 1-0 victory in Las Vegas came courtesy of Barcelona new wide man Raphinha who beat Thibaut Courtois with a beauty worthy of settling any game. The former Leeds United star unleashed an unstoppable shot from outside the penalty area into the top corner… and it’s a sign of things to come.
We’re going to see plenty of La Liga 2022 highlights from the Brazilian wizard and Real Madrid have already had a warning about what he can do.
The clash was billed as a friendly but El Clasicos just aren’t like that, whenever and wherever they are played. There were plenty of tasty tackles, particularly from the Blaugrana who won the battle of strength as well as skill. It was a good night all round for the Barca fans who also saw an impressive 45 minutes from another of their summer recruits. The Catalans saw off a challenge from Chelsea for the signature of Robert Lewandowski and the former Bayern striker looked as sharp as ever, though he didn’t get on the scoresheet.
A nil for Lewy is a collector’s item and I don’t think we’ll see too many more of those over the next nine months.
On the back of a 6-0 thrashing of Inter Miami, in which Raphinha scored once and had two assists, this was another great result and head coach Xavi was delighted, saying: “The first half was brilliant.”
The La Liga 2022 betting odds here at SBOTOP have now pitched the El Clasico giants as joint-favourites at odds of 2.05 to win the 2022/23 title with Atletico Madrid at 6.00 and Sevilla at a price of 22.00. On the evidence of this game the Catalans have a real chance of lifting the trophy again.
The addition of Lewandowski and Raphinha to an attack which already boasts Pierre- Emerick Aubameyang is a mouth-watering prospect but Los Blancos are not so confident in that department.
With no Karim Benzema, Real Madrid didn’t register a single shot on target. Federico Valverde coming closest when he crashed a rocket of a shot against the upright in the first half.
Rudiger’s sticky start
At the other end of the pitch we haven’t yet seen the best of Carlo Ancelotti’s team either. Real Madrid’s new centre-back signing Antonio Rudiger has had an interesting first few weeks at the club. He had a torrid time of it in a dual with Barca’s Ronald Araujo, who beat him for pace hands down, and he didn’t look his usually composed self against Barcelona’s livewire attack.
The former Chelsea man had already put a mark on one of his team-mates in training…a day before El Clasico!
In the middle of a quick passing exercise Rudiger stretched for the ball and totally wiped out another former Blue, Eden Hazard. His team-mates’ reaction was one of shock while Hazard rolled around in pain and Rudiger looked sheepish.
Los Blancos open their 2022/23 campaign with a match against new boys Almeria who know to expect more than just fast-flowing and clever football, the Madrid giants now have a brutal side too.
Meanwhile, in Barcelona’s defence the veteran centre-back Gerard Pique made an appearance after returning from injury but Xavi is looking to strengthen in that area too. After beating Chelsea to the signature of Lewandowksi, and then Raphinha, they are going head to head again with the London club, chasing a deal to sign Sevilla defender Jules Kounde. Chelsea thought they had the signing all but confirmed with a £55m bid apparently accepted but it looks like Barca may be about to sneak in.
Thomas Tuchel must be sick of the Blaugrana after reports emerged on Sunday that the French international has decided to reject Chelsea’s offer in favour of a move to the Camp Nou. This comes on the back of the Blues losing another centre back Andreas Christensen who joined Barca in the summer and the Chelsea boss has been irritated by noise in the media that his defender Cesar Azpilicueta may be open to a move to Barcelona too.
Tuchel is not in the best of moods after watching his side get hammered by Arsenal in a pre-season friendly where his team looked short in defence and attack. But that won’t worry Xavi one bit because it looks like his preparations at Barca are going just fine. Ancelotti, on the other hand, has some thinking to do.
Disclaimer: Odds are correct at time of publish.
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