Meaningless Super League and US friendly sums Barcelona up at present

Photo by Omar Vega/Getty Images

Roll on 2024

A day after squeaking past Almeria in La Liga and on the day that a triumphant Joan Laporta espoused the virtues of the European Super League, Barça played a match against Club America that advanced all that is wrong in the modern game.

It’s clear that the Blaugranes need money.

Josep Maria Bartomeu had left the club on its knees and whomever came in to tidy up his mess was going to find things tough.

Decisions were going to have to be made from time to time that went against the ethos of the club simply for it to survive. Undoubtedly a risky strategy but also a necessary one.

With his swarthy good looks and salesman’s charm, Laporta has, thus far, steered the club through very choppy waters whilst retaining support from the vast majority of culers.

President @JoanLaportaFCB discusses the Super League sentence pic.twitter.com/BVW8QJl3fl

— FC Barcelona (@FCBarcelona) December 21, 2023

His decision to pocket in the region of €5m for the club for a meaningless friendly in Dallas, coming directly after a Spanish top-flight game and squeezing every last drop of energy out of certain players wasn’t the wisest choice, however.

Just like the mid-season trip to Mamelodi Sundowns which could arguably be used as the excuse as to why the club didn’t complete its first ever unbeaten season under Ernesto Valverde, so the friendly against Club America may end up being looked at as a step too far, despite a number of first-team players being rested.

The air miles and jet lag alone can have a marked effect.

Photo by Omar Vega/Getty Images

In any event, the game itself wasn’t much to write home about.

Lamine Yamal and Marc Guiu getting on the scoresheet will have been a minor plus for Xavi, as will the debuts of Astralaga, Kochen, Cubarsi, Gerard Martin and Mbacke, though the inability to hold onto the lead in both instances - even in a meaningless friendly - will still grate.

Henry Martin’s late winner for the Mexican side condemned Barça to defeat though in many respects the final score will be seen as a side issue to this sideshow.

Perhaps the only real question that needs to be answered, particularly in light of Xavi’s reported half-time broadside directed at Robert Lewandowski, is why not give Marc Guiu a run in the team for a few games?

He can’t do any worse than the immobile and out of form Polish international and, as he’s shown on three separate occasions already, he can do a lot better.

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