Barcelona vs Monaco, Joan Gamper Trophy: Final Score 0-3, Barça finish preseason with bad defeat at home

Barcelona’s fifth and final preseason game ended in defeat as the Catalans suffered a 3-0 loss to AS Monaco in the annual Joan Gamper Trophy at the Montjuïc Olympic Stadium on Monday night. In what was the weakest performance under Hansi Flick in exhibition season, Barça struggled to create real chances, conceded some bad goals and couldn’t be anywhere near their best in their last preparation match before Saturday’s La Liga opener against Valencia.

FIRST HALF

Barça almost started the game with a goal less than a minute into the action when a cross by Raphinha found Pau Víctor all alone at the far post, but the young striker couldn’t hit the target. That turned out to be the Blaugrana’s best chance of the period as Barça made some beautiful combinations in midfield to release their forwards into dangerous positions time and time again, but the final pass was missing and the home team failed to create any real opportunities.

But they still did plenty of positive things: the pressing and intensity without the ball was very effective to get possession back, and the work in midfield of the two young Marcs, Bernal and Casadó, was excellent: Bernal initiated moves and connected the lines beautifully with his passing, while Casadó moved all over the pitch to present himself as an option and keep attacks going.

The back four played a very high line and nearly came close to conceding a couple of real chances by playing the offside trap, but that aggressive approach worked and the backline mostly stayed out of trouble.

The closest either team came to taking the lead was when Raphinha found the bottom of the net with a right-footed shot, but the Brazilian’s strike was correctly ruled out for offside. The halftme whistle came to end a fun opening period, that had good intensity and plenty of positive signs from Barça despite the lack of goals.

SECOND HALF

Barça started the final period by conceding a bizarre goal in a routine goal-kick: Iñigo Martínez passed the ball to Bernal as the youngster was looking the other way, and Lamine Camara stole possession and passed the ball into the net to give Monaco a stunning lead just five minutes in.

Five minutes after that came Monaco’s second goal as Barça’s offside trap was finally beaten when Takumi Minamino found Breel Embolo one-on-one with Marc-André ter Stegen, and the Swiss striker lobbed the Barça keeper to double the visitors’ advantage.

Hansi Flick made a few changes with 25 minutes to go, including the preseason debut of Lamine Yamal. Yamal almost created a goal immediately with a beautiful pass to Pau Víctor, who tried to lob the keeper but narrowly missed the target.

That was Barça’s best move of the entire second half up to that point, as the home team struggled to show the same ability to move the ball well between the lines and fell into a passive state of slow possession and very few dynamic runs in the final third.

Yamal changed all of that with his attitude, skills and willingness to take risks, and Barça finally looked like a more cohesive attacking unit as we reached the final 15 minutes. Unfortunately any hopes of a comeback were killed with five minutes to go when Christian Mawissa found the bottom corner with a left-footed shot, and Monaco clinched the victory.

The final whistle came shortly after to end a bad night for Barça, who were never out of first gear throughout the night and conceded some really bad goals. The balance of preseason remains positive despite this defeat, but it became clear tonight that Barça still have quite a lot to work on under Hansi Flick.