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Barcelona began their pre-season tour in Japan with a 2-1 loss against Chelsea. For the Blaugrana, the only goal was scored by Ivan Rakitic, while for Chelsea, the goals were scored by Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley.
As expected from any team's first pre-season game, Barcelona played two entirely different teams in the two halves, while Chelsea's starting XI played more than the substitutes. In the first half, Barcelona were looking rusty and not up to the pace of the game. Chelsea were playing with more intensity and drive, and they scored the opening goal in the match as Sergio Busquets made an error which left Abraham one-on-one with the keeper and the young Englishman tucked it in.
In the second half, Barcelona looked better going forward but they lacked the cutting edge. Chelsea, on the other hand, doubled their advantage through Barkley's left-footed shot from outside the box. In the dying moments of the game, Rakitic pulled one back for the Blaugrana with a brilliant strike from outside the box.
All in all, it was a good match with some great moments and in this slideshow, we are going to take a look at 5 talking points from the match.
Also See : Arsenal Transfer News, EPL Transfer News, La Liga Transfer News.
#5 Antoine Griezmann fails to impress on his debut
The expectations of the Barcelona fans were high as Antoine Griezmann made his debut for the Blaugrana against Chelsea but the Frenchman didn't have a particularly great game. His passing and link-up play left a lot to be desired but he did show some sparks of his quality.
He had his best moments in the game linking up with Ousmane Dembele and on two occasions, he almost set up the young French winger but that didn't materialize into something significant. All in all, it was a pretty rusty debut for Griezmann in the Barcelona colours.
#4 Frank Lampard wants his team to be quick on transitions
Over the course of the pre-season tour, Frank Lampard has tried different formations and the two that have stuck have been the 4-2-3-1 and the 4-3-3. The former was preferred by Lampard in the game against Barcelona.
The front three that started for Chelsea comprised of Christian Pulisic, Pedro and Tammy Abraham - three quick and direct attackers and it was clear what Lampard wanted from them. Chelsea was content at sitting deep and allowing Barcelona to come at them, before hitting them on the counter whenever the opportunity arose and that worked very well for the Blues. It would be interesting to see what Lampard eventually settles with as his go-to formation.
#3 Ross Barkley could be the goalscoring midfielder for Chelsea in the upcoming season
Chelsea have an abundance of midfield options and Lampard can go with any formation he prefers. But, so far, he seems to have preferred two deep-lying midfielders with a number 10 up ahead of them. He has many options for that number 10 role with likes of Ruben Loftus-Cheek, Mason Mount and Ross Barkley.
Of all of them, Barkley has the most Premier League experience and he surely has the talent and technical ability to provide goals from the midfield. We saw a glimpse of exactly that against Barcelona. He started the move, passing and moving forward before receiving the ball at the edge of the box and, with his weak left-foot, smacking it into the bottom corner. Lampard has many options for attacking impetus in midfield but can he get the best out of them? Only time will tell.
#2 Riqui Puig impresses for the Blaugrana
In a match where Barcelona fans got very little satisfaction, one thing that most fans would have loved was how Barcelona-B youngster Riqui Puig played in the first half. He was, by far, Barcelona's best attacking outlet in the first 45 minutes.
The 19-year-old is a left-footed midfielder who has all the traits to become a proper Barcelona midfielder. He can dribble brilliantly, has the eye for the pass, can drive through the midfield with elegance and can strike the ball well with his left-foot.
Puig made his La Liga debut last season in April against Celta Vigo and it would be interesting to see how much Ernesto Valverde uses the youngster in the upcoming season.
#1 Tammy Abraham stakes his claim for the number 9 role
It goes without saying but Lampard's Chelsea is seriously lacking proven Premier League goalscorers in their side with Olivier Giroud, Michy Batshuayi and Tammy available for the first team. While Giroud is on the wrong side of the '30s, Batshuayi has failed miserably in the Premier League.
So, there is a window of opportunity for Tammy Abraham to step up and grab that number 9 spot. While he missed an absolute sitter in the initial part of the game against Barcelona, he did make up for it with his poaching ability as he latched on the mistake made by Busquets and tapped it into the back of the net.
