The 'Egyptian Haaland' brings out pride in Adeyemi's debut with Barça

It was a preseason match, just Barça's second – the first at an open gate after the 4-1 victory against CE Europa –, but the tiny St Andrew's Stadium in the Bordesley neighborhood of Birmingham was packed. Birmingham City FC, a historic English football club that will fight for another year to return to the Premier League, hosted the blaugrana team in the re-edition of a match full of history: both had rivaled in the past in the Fairs Cup, with the Catalans overcoming the English in the two-legged final corresponding to the edition played between 1958 and 1960.

The match had almost nothing to do with today's football, with a much more voracious rhythm and much more physically prepared footballers. In this struggle of teams getting ready for the season's premiere, a Barça full of homegrown players drew with the English (2-2). The friendly – with the prize of a trophy – would end up being decided on penalties: Áron Yaakobishvili, from the reserve team, saved two penalties, but Roony Bardghji and the young Jordi Pesquer and Brian Fariñas would miss their shots, giving the victory to the locals.

The staging, despite being a preseason test, already made the players pant from early on due to the efforts the match required. Hansi Flick's team, with more than a dozen starters still on vacation or recovering from their respective injuries, such as Raphinha, Fermín, or Balde, wanted to impose their talent. On the other hand, however, they found a team that came out to bite them high up from the first minute, and as long as their strength held.

Barça failed to dominate the duel against the impetus – and direct football – of the locals, accompanied by almost 30,000 souls willing to have a good time with their own. Real Madrid's Jude Bellingham also did not want to miss the opportunity and was present in the box of the club where he trained as a footballer and became known to the elite. With several new additions to the starting eleven compared to the friendly against Europa, including Karim Adeyemi, who debuted on the right wing, the Blaugranas tried to make an impact. First, with a couple of solo runs by the German forward that ended without much danger.

The closest to scoring, with the score still level, was Andreas Christensen, who wants to leave injuries behind (and his mental fear of getting injured). With a long-range shot that grazed the post, the Dane, with the captain's armband, made the first shot of the match. Barça had possession and seemed determined to change the score, but in the end, the locals would do it. After half an hour of play, August Priske beat Jofre Torrents in the air to score with a good header past Wojciech Szczesny (1-0, 31').

Hamza Abdelkarim, goal scorer

The local goal brought pride to a Barça full of youngsters who love the crest, like Marc Bernal, who after a great oriented control connected at the edge of the box with Hamza Abdelkarim who, slicker and faster than his defender Christop Klarer, earned a penalty. The 18-year-old Egyptian forward wanted to take responsibility for taking the spot-kick and didn't miss, with a powerful, well-placed shot that deceived goalkeeper James Beadle just before halftime (1-1, 42'). The hosts could have taken the lead again, after a set-piece play in which Szczesny shone against Tomoki Iwata's header.

In the second half, Birmingham's high press began to wane and Barça was not only confidently dominating possession, but also dominating the game. However, the most important thing was missing: creating danger and seeing the back of the net. Flick made four substitutions at once, bringing on Roony for a subdued Adeyemi. The Swedish winger, who wants to earn his continued stay at Barça, showed why he was signed last season. A diagonal run from the right inwards, a crisp shot from the edge of the box, and a parried rebound from Beadle which Abdelkarim, the Egyptian and World Cup-participating Haaland, did not waste to score his brace (1-2', 60'). the Egyptian Haaland and World Cup participant, to score his brace (1-2', 60').

After the hour of play, Flick made a string of changes again – and experiments, such as putting Héctor Fort at center-back – and the home team took advantage. Once again making good use of aerial play, although this time from a set-piece, the home team exploited Barcelona's defensive weakness to equalize. The former Girona player, Jhon Solís, collected a loose ball in the heart of the area to beat Áron Yaakobishvili, who had replaced Szczesny (2-2, 68').

The draw spurred on the home team, who came close to a third with a shot that grazed Alex Cochrane's crossbar. The final minutes, with a host of changes on both sides, led to an entertaining but imprecise finish with no further goals, although Barça tried the most, with daring Roony and Álex González making goalkeeper Beadle shine. In the penalties, the English team prevailed.