For Barcelona fans, the memory of Roma turning around a 4-1 first-leg lead in the Champions League was probably too fresh in the minds still. That night in Rome will have played over in the players’ minds too, as they failed to make it past the quarter-finals for the third year in a row. A stunning 3-0 win from Roma shell-shocked Barcelona’s team who were the favourites to go on and win the trophy.
Last night’s game was only a friendly; a game that is intended solely to give the players some match fitness before the season begins. This game formed part of the International Champions Cup in America and gave American fans the chance to see some of the greatest footballers in the world.
Transfer saga involving Malcom
An interesting twist to this game is the transfer saga involving the Brazilian Malcom. Roma had appeared to be very confident that they had captured Malcom’s signature, only for Barcelona to go in for him at the last minute and the player doing a U-turn. That will not have made him very popular with the Roma fans!
Barcelona missing star players
https://www.instagram.com/p/Bl2r7QGj-c3/
Unfortunately, due to the World Cup schedule, the top Barcelona stars like Messi and Luis Suarez were not on display for the fans that had packed into the stadium. Roma’s team more closely resembled their starting XI, which probably played a big part in the result.
However, It was Barcelona that took an early lead through Rafinha after just six minutes. Roma then equalised just after the half hour mark through Stephan El Shaarawy. With the scores even at 1-1, Barcelona made six substitutions. The fresh legs seemed to give Barcelona some momentum and it was the man of the moment, Malcom who got his name on the scoresheet to put Barcelona back in front.
Roma rally to another dramatic comeback against Barca
Roma couldn’t score three goals against Barcelona again, surely? Well, that is exactly what they did in the last 15 minutes of the game. First Florenzi scored at 78 minutes to pull it back to 2-2 and just five minutes later, Bryan Cristante had put Roma ahead. Diego Perotti rounded off the comeback with a well-taken penalty to make it 4-2.
You get the feeling that Barcelona will want to avoid being drawn against Roma in the Champions League this year!
