Barcelona opens preseason with convincing win.. Hamza Abdel Karim shines
حقق برشلونة فوزاً كبيراً على جاره سي إي يوروبا 4-1 في أولى مبارياته التحضيرية للموسم الجديد، ليعوض خسارة نهائي كأس كتالونيا عام 1998، وسط تألق لافت للشاب حمزة عبد الكريم في أول ظهور له مع الفريق الأول.
In a historical irony involving José Mourinho, Barcelona avenged itself after a 28-year wait, achieving a resounding victory over its Catalan neighbor CE Europa with a score of 4-1 in the friendly match between the two teams.
The last meeting between the two teams goes back to the 1998 Catalan Cup final, when Europa, nicknamed "Escapolats," caused a huge upset and won the title at Barcelona's expense on penalties. The man leading the Catalan team from the bench in that final was José Mourinho himself, who was then working as an assistant to coach Louis van Gaal.
28 years after that loss, Barcelona redeemed itself in the best possible way, imposing its control on the match and deciding it with four goals scored by Ibrahim Diarra, Héctor Fort, Ebriema Tonkara, and Alex González, while Flávio scored Europa's only goal.
Coach Flick's team, which included a large number of academy players, outperformed its opponent and achieved a 4-1 victory, but in essence, the result was not very important because the goal was to start gaining experience, give players playing time, and evaluate their physical progress.
In fact, Flick fielded a lineup that does not closely resemble the one that will play the official season, with many reserve team players and even youth teams.
La Masia academy player Hamza Abdel Karim stole the spotlight, after making his first appearance with the first team and delivering a standout performance, confirming his strong presence among the young faces.
Barcelona controlled the match from the start and succeeded in opening the scoring through Bryan Viñas in the 30th minute, before Hamza Abdel Karim added the second goal in the 32nd minute, while Europa responded with a goal to narrow the gap in the 42nd minute, ending the first half with Barcelona leading 2-1.
— BarçaTimes (@BarcaTimes) July 24, 2026
In the second half, the Catalan team showed greater attacking effectiveness, scoring two additional goals to seal the match 4-1.
The match witnessed a notable performance from Guille Fernández, who delivered a great level in midfield, and Ebriema Tonkara also shone strongly.
Ter Stegen played the entire second half, despite the imminent completion of his loan to Ajax. In contrast, Ademi was excluded from the match squad.
This victory is an encouraging start for coach Hansi Flick, who relied mainly on young players in the absence of most international stars.
Original source: Kooora
Comments (0)
Be the first to comment.