One cold and one hot from Barça in the triangular in Udine

BarcelonaIn the first edition of the Friuli Venezia Giulia Cup, played at the Bluenery Friuli Stadium in Udine (Italy), Barça participated in a football triangular for the first time in 24 years. The Catalans defeated Nottingham Forest (1-0), last season's sixteenth-placed team in the Premier League - and who this season have lost their best player: Elliot Anderson, for whom Manchester City paid 135 million euros -, but lost to the hosts, Udinese (1-0). The Italians won both their matches, as before facing Barça they had already beaten the English team by the same score (1-0).

In the third friendly match of the pre-season, Raphinha wore the captain's armband and felt like a footballer again after being injured with Brazil during the World Cup. The Brazilian started from the left wing, in an attack completed by Hamza Abdelkarim, author of a brace against Birmingham City a week ago, and Karim Adeyemi, wide on the right wing. The Barcelona signing continues to adapt and once again delivered a discreet performance.

The German coach also once again trusted Marc Bernal as a pivot, as well as Xavi Espart, who continues to earn his place in the first team from the right-back position. In the center of defense, the central pairing was confirmed by Andreas Christensen and Gerard Martín. Meanwhile, among the main novelties, Jordi Pesquer stood out at left-back and Brian Fariñas, accompanying Bernal and Fermín López in midfield against Nottingham. The Galician player from the reserve team, whose move to Girona was blocked by Hansi Flick, had Barça's clearest chance with the score still at 0-0, with a low shot that hit the post from the edge of the box.

The reality, however, is that until Raphinha's goal, the main chances were for the English against a Barça that was giving too many facilities to their rival. Igor Jesus, the most insistent of Nottingham, sent a close-range shot over the crossbar; Morgan Gibbs-White hit the post after a loss by Adeyemi and Wojciech Szczęsny had to put on his working boots against Jesus a few minutes before Fermín provoked the penalty for handball by Nikola Milenković. The penalty would mean Raphinha's goal.

Jesse Bisiwu's debut

After changing their skin - from the radioactive orange kit to the usual blaugrana -, the blaugrana team faced Udinese with only two new faces at the start: Ebrima Tunkara, the youngest in the squad at just 16 years old, and Shane Kluivert. The Gambian replaced Fermín López and the son of the iconic Dutch forward Patrick Kluivert gave Raphinha a rest.

Adeyemi came close to scoring against the Italians, but his shot was soft after a good pass from Fariñas. Before that, Tunkara had tried, a gem from the academy whom the coach follows very closely despite his youth. In the first quarter of an hour of the match against Udinese, Flick moved the bench again: Balde, Orian Goren -another talent to consider, at just 17 years old-, Hèctor Fort, center-back Álvaro Cortés -the other great candidate to stay with the first team, like Xavi Espart- and debutant Jesse Bisiwu, who joined just a week ago from Bruges, stepped onto the pitch.

Despite the string of new faces, Flick continued to trust Adeyemi, who would end up playing 73 minutes (like Christensen and Bernal) before the last round of substitutions. With many young faces and only three first-team players in the starting eleven -Alejandro Balde, who ended up as captain, Héctor Fort and Szczęsny, who would complete the 90 minutes-, the blaugranas absolutely dominated possession of the ball against Udinese, but they lacked threat in front of goal. They would end up paying for it.

On the other hand, with very little, Gueye almost scored for the Italians from a set piece, one of the team's strengths this preseason. And, in the last minute of regular time, in a defense-attack transition, Vakoun Bayo finished with great composure and accuracy against the Polish goalkeeper of Barça in an action where Tommy Marquès, who played as a center-back despite being a defensive midfielder, was weak.