It was a hard-fought match in the Lluis Companys Olympic Stadium in Barcelona as the Spanish champions closed out their pre-season against Tottenham for the Joan Gamper Trophy.

Spurs were stunned when Barca took the lead inside five minutes, Raphinha whipping a ball from the right across the area to Robert Lewandowski, who found himself virtually one-on-one with Spurs keeper Guglielmo Vicario, and had no trouble slotting home past him into the bottom right corner.

Then followed 20 minutes of frenzied exchanges, Barca looking to bag a second and the English side desperate to equalise. They finally found their leveller when Lo Celso found Oliver Skipp in the middle of the box and the Englishman fired home past Marc Andre ter Stegen.

A first half full of fouls saw just one booking but Ronald Araujo had to be subbed off just past the half hour mark, following a chase-down of Davinson Sanchez.

Spurs kept pressing, harrying Barca off the ball and finally put a great sequence together which found Ivan Pulisic with plenty of space on the top left corner of the box. He sent a ball sailing into the heart of area, which connected six yards out from goal with the head of Skipp, who bagged his brace from his second attempt on goal and put his side ahead at the break.

Barca came out meaning business in the second half, but couldn't find a breakthrough until late on. Six changes brought on Abde, Ansu Fati and Ferran Torres, among others before they were joined on the field by Lamine Yamal and Fermin Lopez.

The youngsters were the key for Barca, as Yamal got the assist on the Spaniards' second, dragging the ball down the right side and slotting it into the box for Ferran Torres to bury the equaliser. Torres turned provider for Barca to take the lead, playing to Ansu Fati in the corner of the box, who ran in an buried it in the bottom corner, shooting across goal.

Just to finish off Spurs, in the third minute of added time, Abde got himself on the score sheet as he found himself totally unmarked in the box, and a low ball from Fermin Lopez made it easy for him to put the final nail in Spurs' coffin.

August 8, 2023

Oliver Skipp

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