Barcelona claimed the 50th Joan Gamper Trophy by beating Roma 3-0 at the Camp Nou this evening.
The reigning European champions came rushing out of the blocks looking to impress the home crowd and quickly carved out a couple of early openings. Roma defended well but failed to take advantage of several decent chances to hit Barca on the break in the first half hour of play.
The hosts opened the scoring on 26 minutes and it was a beautifully worked team goal. Leo Messi conjured up a sublime pass into the box for Jeremy Mathieu and the Frenchman showed an exquisite first touch to nudge the ball into the path of Neymar, who duly rounded Wojciech Szczesny to score.
Four minutes shy of the interval it was 2-0. Luis Suarez worked the ball well on the right wing and found Neymar, who in turn teed up Messi and the Argentine star calmly picked his spot from the edge of the area to double the lead.
The tempo dropped after the restart but the Giallorossi were unable to find a way past their opponents’ passing game and constant harrying, while Barca themselves posed less of a threat than in the first 45 minutes.
The third goal was a real peach by Ivan Rakitic midway through the second half, the Croatian’s long-range belter leaving Morgan De Sanctis with no chance. There was to be no consolation goal for Roma as the game petered out as a contest.
Tomorrow, after a morning session at Barcelona’s training center, Roma will fly back to the capital to start preparing for the Naranja Trophy against Valencia, to be played once again on Spanish soil on Sunday August 8. A week later, on Saturday August 14, Sevilla will provide the opposition for AS Roma’s Opening Day at the Stadio Olimpico.
Scroll through our gallery above to see the best pictures from the match against Barcelona at the Camp Nou.
Source: asroma.it
