Barça 2-0 Vissel Kobe: First Win

Photo credit should read KAZUHIRO NOGI/AFP/Getty Images

Two teams, two good halves, two goals.

Barcelona’s preseason tour of Japan ended on a high as the Blaugrana recovered from their loss to Chelsea with a 2-0 win against Vissel Kobe on Saturday. Ernesto Valverde once again used two different teams, and both played well against Andrés Iniesta, Sergi Samper and David Villa’s side. The goals came in the second half, but the overall level from the two Barça teams was pretty good at this point of preseason.

FIRST HALF

Kobe had a good start to the game, pressing high up the pitch and troubling Barça’s buildup, and Iniesta had the best chance for the home team after he stole a ball in midfield and nearly scored a golazo from outside the box. After a nice beginning from Vissel the Blaugrana took control of the match with some pressing of their own and nice possession work.

Riqui Puig, Rafinha and Griezmann were active and always looking for each other, and Rakitic chipped in with a few strikes from outside the box, and Barça created many chances to open the scoring. They just couldn’t find the back of the net, and after 45 minutes there were no goals but it was a nice performance for First Half Barça.

SECOND HALF

Second Half Barça with a completely different team continued the dominance with De Jong and Aleñá playing well in midfield while Dembélé, Malcom and Pérez looked hungry and sharp in the final third. Carles Pérez was especially good, and he gave Barça the lead after a beautiful solo run, a one-two with Malcom and a nice finish between the keeper’s legs.

Barça continued to create chances to try and find the second against a very poor Kobe side that left spaces at the back and didn’t really trouble Neto’s goal. After a few big chances missed, the visitors scored the second goal: Guillem found Pérez inside the box, and the young man fired a rocket into the bottom corner to score his and Barça’s second.

The final whistle came shortly after, and now Barça will return to Catalonia for a week of training before the Joan Gamper Trophy against Arsenal at Camp Nou.

---

Barcelona (1H): Ter Stegen; Semedo, Araujo, Lenglet, Alba; Rakitic, Busquets, Puig; Rafinha, Griezmann, Collado

Barcelona (2H): Neto; Monchu, Todibo, Umtiti, Guillem; De Jong, Roberto, Aleñá; Dembélé, Malcom, Pérez

Goals: Pérez (59’, 86’)

Vissel Kobe (1H): Maekawa; Fujitani, Dankler, Miya, Hatsuse; Samper, Yamaguchi; Ogawa, Iniesta, Goke; Villa

Vissel Kobe (2H): Maekawa; Nishi, Watanabe, Hashimoto, Osaki; Masuyama (Nasu), Samper (Kobayashi), Yasui, Nakasaka; Wellington, Tanaka

Goals: None

Source: barcablaugranes.com