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SCORE: (Rafinha 6; Malcolm 49') Barcelona 2-4 Roma (El Sharawy 35'; Florenzi 78; Christante 83'; Perotti (P) 86')
Barcelona lost their recently concluded pre-season fixtures against Roma in the International Champions Cup being held across three continents.
Barcelona's games have been scheduled in the United States of America and they took on the Italian side from Serie A at the AT&T Stadium in Dallas.
The Catalans lost their second fixture in the ICC after edging past Tottenham on penalties in their opener after the game ended on 2-2 after regulation time. Roma, who had overcome a mountain in the second leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League last time the two sides met, came up with the goods once against the heavily-favoured Barcelona side.
The La Liga Champions took an early lead through Rafinha before Roma levelled the scores through Stephan Elsharawy. Barca went ahead, once more, through the man who has been the in the eye of the storm with regard to his transfer which ended in a public spat between the two sides.
It was widely reported that Roma were in prime position and on the verge of signing the talented Brazilian before the move was highjacked by the Spanish giants. The winger is one of the most exciting prospects in world football at the moment and is valued highly by the big sides in Europe.
It was Roma though, who seemed like they'd gotten their man after entering the final stages of negotiations with his former club Bordeaux.
However, it was Barcelona who nicked in ahead of the Italians and stole the attacking player from under their nose. Malcolm's desire to put on the fabled red and blue shirt for Barcelona had a lot to do with the final decision, but Roma have not been willing to relent or accept the apologies of the Barcelona top Brass claiming that only a sale of Lionel Messi to the Serie A side would help in healing the relationship between the two clubs which has deteriorated immensely.
Although the Brazilian gave his side the lead early in the second half, Roma roared back and flew past the Spanish Champions in a period of just 8 minutes in the final quarter of the game to end up 2-4 winners.
Although the transfer saga involving Malcolm might've been far from forgotten, a comeback victory to nullify the Brazilian's goal ought to have put a smile on the face of the Roma top brass, as well as the fans.
