Barcelona beat Real Madrid in New York thanks to two goals from their in-form forward Pau Victor after a thunderstorm had caused an hour delay early in the first half.
Hansi Flick’s side will take confidence from the win, having also beaten Manchester City on penalties last week, whereas Madrid have lost both their opening games in the United States (after a 1-0 defeat to AC Milan on Thursday).
The first-half delay failed to dampen the spirits of the 82,154 supporters at the MetLife Stadium, and they chanted, “Yes we can” while taking shelter from the storm.
Victor put Barcelona ahead shortly before half-time and then doubled their lead after 54 minutes. Nico Paz pulled a goal back for Madrid with eight minutes to play.
Laia Cervello Herrero and Guillermo Rai analyse the key talking points…
Nico Paz finishes excellent week with a fine goal
A young Barcelona team imposed themselves against Madrid, but it wasn’t all bad for Carlo Ancelotti’s side. As well as 16-year-old defender Joan Martinez, another player who stood out was Paz, who replaced Endrick in the second half.
The 19-year-old playmaker is one of the brightest talents from Real Madrid’s youth academy and he scored his side’s only goal with a diving header.
“I saw there was a lot of space at the far post and I went for it,” Paz said after the match.
Paz scores against Barcelona (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
After a week of lighting up Real Madrid’s open training sessions, this goal was a reward for his hard work.
Paz has shown that he can control the team’s tempo, has great technique and, above all, is a danger in front of goal.
Despite not getting much playing time in the 2023-24 season, he played a crucial part in the Champions League victory against Napoli in November. Introduced with the score at 2-2, he scored his first goal in senior football to put Madrid in front before Joselu sealed a 4-2 win.
The Madrid coaching staff believe he can make the step up to the first team but members of the club’s board doubt whether he can earn a starting role in their midfield.
His future is uncertain but his quality is unquestionable.
Guillermo Rai
Does Pau Victor deserve a place in Flick’s first team?
After three goals and two man-of-the-match displays against Manchester City and Real Madrid, the short answer seems to be: yes.
Victor was Barcelona B’s top scorer last season with 18 goals, which made him the top scorer in Spain’s third tier too. He is using this pre-season to try to convince Flick that he can reproduce that form at the highest level.
His performance against Madrid was excellent. He generated more opportunities and fought for every ball. His explosiveness towards goal is something his team-mate Robert Lewandowski has been lacking in pre-season. However, unlike Lewandowski, who has scored more than 600 goals in his career, Victor has everything to prove.
Victor plays every game as if his life depends on getting a positive result for his team, and he is having a big impact. He scored Barcelona’s first goal just before half-time with a header and at the start of the second half, added a second, turning the ball in from close range after a cross from the right.
Victor, who was born roughly 15 kilometres from Camp Nou, forced Thibaut Courtois into making several good saves. In the 12 minutes before the game was stopped because of the storm, the only chance was a Victor header that Courtois did well to keep out. In the second half, a left-footed shot just before his second goal prompted another strong save from Courtois.
“We’ll see what happens with Pau Victor. Two games, three goals, not bad. The door to the first team is always open,” Flick said in his press conference after the game.
Laia Cervello Herrero
Vinicius Junior is Madrid’s leader — as usual
Vinicius Jr did not play in the first match of the tour against AC Milan and was not a starter in this weekend’s El Clasico — but he was still Real Madrid’s leader.
The 24-year-old striker, who was part of Brazil’s team at Copa America this summer, came on shortly after half-time against Barcelona and was relentless in attacking the right-back Alex Valle, and then doing the same to Valle’s replacement Hector Fort.
If Madrid had got an equaliser, it would have been from Vinicius Jr’s slaloms down their left-hand side. He was stopped twice, first by Marc Casado and then by the goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen.
“Vinicius, Vinicius!” the MetLife crowd chanted enthusiastically as he warmed up on the sideline, and they raised the noise a level on his command.
Ancelotti was full of praise for his impact when speaking after the match.
Guillermo Rai
How have Barcelona improved since last season?
What has been most impressive on this tour is how Barcelona’s young players have managed the pressure.
Against Manchester City, there were more than 63,000 people in the stands and stars Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish lining up for Pep Guardiola’s side.
In New Jersey, this was a Clasico — never just a ‘friendly’ — and Vinicius Jr was involved for Madrid. The stands were packed with more than 82,000 fans, but the clear Madrid majority made it feel like an away game for Barcelona.
Barcelona celebrate Pau Victor’s goal (Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
Faced with these circumstances, they did not shrink or hide at any moment.
“The secret is that we are really enjoying playing football,” Casado, the 20-year-old midfielder, told the press a few days ago.
“It took me 10 minutes to acclimatise to the fans and then I didn’t even think about it,” Marc Bernal, the 17-year-old midfielder, said after the win against Madrid.
Then there was Sergi Dominguez, the 19-year-old centre-back, who had some impressive moments against Vinicius Jr.
These guys just don’t seem to feel the pressure on them. They press high, they win balls back quickly after losing it and they enjoyed playing against — and beating — Real Madrid.
Let’s see if they can take those qualities into the regular season.
Laia Cervello Herrero
(Top photo: Charly Triballeau/AFP via Getty Images)
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