July 30, (THEWILL) – Barcelona triumphed over Manchester City in a penalty shootout after their pre-season friendly ended 2-2 in Orlando on Tuesday. The match marked a successful start for new Barcelona manager, Hansi Flick, with the Spanish club winning 4-1 on penalties.
The game, attended by 63,237 spectators, was delayed by 80 minutes due to a storm. Pau Victor opened the scoring for Barcelona in the 24th minute, followed by an equaliser from Nico O’Riley for City in the 39th minute. Pablo Torre put Barcelona ahead again just before halftime, but Jack Grealish levelled the score in the 60th minute.
The penalty shootout saw Barcelona take a 3-0 lead before City’s Amar Ahmed scored. Toni Fernandez, a recent 16-year-old signing for Barcelona, sealed the victory with a left-footed shot past City’s reserve goalkeeper Stefan Ortega.
Both teams used the match to give playing time to reserve players. Notable performances included Croatian international Josko Gvardiol making his first US tour start for City, and Mateo Kovacic impressing in midfield as usual.
Barcelona will continue their US tour with matches against Real Madrid and AC Milan. Manchester City, who have lost to Celtic and AC Milan in earlier US matches, will conclude their tour against Chelsea in Columbus, Ohio on Saturday.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
