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Barcelona kicked off their preseason campaign with a friendly fixture against Premier League side Chelsea at the Saitama Stadium 2002 in Japan.
Although without the services of regular first-teamers like Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez and Arthur who have been given extended breaks owing to their exertions at the Copa America, Ernesto Valverde still had a strong enough squad at his disposal.
Marquee signing Antoine Griezmann got his first start for the Blaugrana, while regulars Ter Stegen, Jordi Alba and Pique complemented youngsters like Riqui Puig, Alex Collado and Oriol Busquets.
For his part, Frank Lampard deviated from his trend of trying out youngsters, as he started with a relatively full-strength squad, perhaps in deference to the quality of Barcelona.
As it happened, Chelsea ran out 2-1 winners with goals from Tammy Abraham and Ross Barkley settling the contest while Ivan Rakitic grabbed a late consolation goal for the Catalans.
In this piece, we highlight five talking points from the match.
#1 Tammy Abraham stakes a huge claim
It is no hidden secret that Chelsea can not sign players owing to their ban for breaching rules concerning transfers of young players.
In light of this, they would need every player currently at the club to step up, especially in attack.
This is more so considering that Alvaro Morata was sold to Atletico while Higuain's loan deal was not made permanent.
The only three senior recognized strikers in the current squad are Olivier Giroud, Michy Batshuayi and Tammy Abraham.
Abraham spent the last three seasons on loan at three different clubs but impressed most at Aston Villa last term, where his 25 goals were the second-highest in the Championship and was one of the the propelling factors behind Villa's return to the Premier League.
His current manager had a close look at his abilities, having faced the 21-year-old three times last season while he was the manager of Derby County.
The Nigerian-born England Under-21 international scored in two of those three matches and Lampard would be hoping he can bring that form with him to Stamford Bridge.
Against Barcelona, Abraham was given a chance to impress from the start and despite missing a sitter on 24 minutes, he rose above that and maintained his composure, calmly taking the ball past Stegen off a Jorginho through ball and slotted into the net to put Chelsea ahead.
He was substituted on the hour mark for Kennedy, and despite not seeing much of the ball, he made the most of the chances he got.
#2 Frenkie de Jong impresses
After playing a starring role in Ajax's fairytale campaign last term, Frenkie de Jong was signed by Barcelona in January 2019 for the sum of €75m.
He joined his new team in the summer and put on a Barcelona shirt for the first time against Chelsea. The 22-year-old started the match from the bench with Valverde giving a run-out to youngster Riqui Puig.
De Jong possesses excellent technique and ball distribution abilities which makes him an ideal fit for the Barcelona midfield.
Upon entering the fray, de Jong was exquisite, bringing a calmness to the middle for the Blaugrana and impressing with his touches.
His introduction at the interval helped Barcelona rise to the ascendancy in the early part of the second half.
Indeed, in his first 10 minutes on the field, the Dutch international had already gotten 24 touches of the ball and while he was ultimately powerless to stop Barcelona's defeat, fans of the Catalans would have been impressed by what they saw.
#3 Defensive and midfield conundrum for Frank Lampard
Throughout the course of Chelsea's three preseason fixtures, Frank Lampard has stuck to his promise of testing everyone, as he has given every member of his squad a chance to impress.
They came into the match against Barcelona having won just one of their three fixtures and embarrassingly fell to a 1-0 defeat to Japanese side Kawasaki Frontale.
Lampard would have been seeking an immediate response and would have be very delighted with what he saw, as everybody from youngsters to established regulars gave their all in a bid to impress their new gaffer.
This is especially true in defense, where the much maligned David Luiz looked a player reborn, while Fikayo Tomori was also impressive.
The latter spent last season on loan under Lampard's watch and was an integral part of the side that finished as runners up in the playoffs, appearing in all 44 of Derby's matches in the regular season.
He started today's fixture on the bench, but was rock solid upon entering the pitch and showed a willingness to put his body on the line.
Elsewhere, there are also solid central defensive options like Andreas Christensen, Kurt Zouma who impressed against Barcelona and that is without adding the currently injured Antonio Rudiger.
In midfield, there are multiple options for Lampard to choose from and the midfielders had a hand to play in both goals against Barcelona, with Jorginho laying on the pass for Abraham to open the scoring while Ross Barkley netted the winner.
Frank Lampard would have a hard time settling on his defensive and midfield combinations, but as any coach would tell you, they love it when they have selection headaches as it puts players on their toes to umprove and this is one problem Lampard would be delighted with.
#4 Subdued debut for Antoine Griezmann
Having completed his long awaited transfer to Barcelona, fans had a first chance to see Antoine Griezmann when he took to the field against Chelsea.
The 28-year-old was arguably the best player for Barcelona in the first half, carving out a number of chances as early as the first ten minutes, before lashing out at thin air when a good opportunity presented itself on 24 minutes.
Towards the end of the half, Griezmann started getting more of the ball and teed up teammates for goalscoring opportunities, but poor finishing let them down with Ousmane Dembele being the chief culprit.
At the start of the second half, the former Atletico Madrid man faded into obscurity as he struggled to make a mark on the match.
As far as debuts go, this was somewhat below par considering his quality and Barcelona fans would be hoping he gets into shape in the coming weeks.
#5 Ousmane Dembele fails to pass audition
Ever since completing his then club-record transfer to Barcelona in 2017, Ousmane Dembele has not lived up to expectation. Injuries have played a huge role in this, while disciplinary issues have also contributed.
Having ended the last campaign on the treatment table, the French international had a chance to remind everyone of his abilities, but he failed his audition woefully.
Dembele was thrust from the start on the right hand side of attack and had a number of chances in the first half to put his side ahead.
He was set up on two occasions by his Griezmann but failed to take advantage, while also electing to go for goal when his compatriot was better positioned.
He was substituted at halftime for Carles Perez and the youngster immediately made an impact, impressing with his willingness to run at the Chelsea defence.
Malcom, who is the player most likely to compete with Dembele for starts, also made a telling contribution by supplying the assist for Rakitic's late consolation goal.
With Griezmann's arrival, Dembele is not certain of a spot in the team and he did a great disservice to his chances with his subpar performance today.
