Hit in the Gamper! A weak Barça falls thrashed against Monaco (0-3)

FC Barcelona presented its 2024/25 sports project this Monday in Montjuïc with the traditional Joan Gamper Trophy, which in its 59th edition had the French AS Monaco as a guest. With Dani Olmo as the main new addition to the Barça squad, the culés jumped to the Lluys Companys with great hopes, but ended up taking a bitter victory after a disastrous second half (0-3).

Despite the expectation for Olmo's possible debut, Hansi Flick opted for the lineup that generated the most filming and confidence during the American tour. With Christensen and Iñigo in the center of the defense and Koundé with Balde on the sides, the coach once again entrusted the center of the field to the Casadó-Bernal duo, while Pablo Torre once again took on the task of creating play. Raphinha and Pau Víctor repeated as wingers, while Lewandowski remained as a reference in the area.

Barça lacked ideas in a first half without clear chances

As soon as the match began, the preseason sensation, Pau Víctor, was very close to converting thanks to a Raphinha cross at the far post, but the youth player was forced and failed to direct his shot towards the goal. Monaco appeared in the Barça area in the 5th minute thanks to a poor start by Ter Stegen that generated a timely cut by Iñigo Martínez. Embolo claimed a penalty, but main player García Verdura did not notice anything illegal on the part of the Basque central defender.

From there, Barça took full control of the match, although the culés lacked the depth to hurt the Monegasque defense. Balde, Raphinha and Pablo Torre tried with several crosses that were repelled by the visiting defense, while Pau Víctor also created some danger with a filtered pass where the Cantabrian ended up hindering 'Lewy'. The Pole was the only one who had a shot on goal in the first half with a long shot controlled without problems by goalkeeper Köhn.

Monaco hit twice after the break

After the break, Flick introduced a double variation. Sergi Domínguez for Christensen and Gündogan for Pablo Torre. Monaco, for their part, took the field with the same 11 and gave the bell in the 50th minute, taking advantage of a bad Barça start. A short pass from Iñigo caught Marc Bernal sleeping and Lamine Camara took the opportunity to anticipate and finish on goal, beating Ter Stegen.

The French goal left Montjuïc silent and Barça reacted timidly with a couple of occasions in which Lewandowski was unable to finish the passes of Balde and Casadó. To make matters worse, Adi Hütter's team increased the lead in the 57th minute, this time thanks to a good goal from Breel Embolo. The Swiss attacker of Cameroonian origin took advantage of a filtered pass from Minamino to stand in front of Ter Stegen and finish over. Bucket had gotten hooked, breaking the offside position.

Mawissa closed the Barça debacle before the end

The culés went on the attack to look for a comeback, but Gündogan did not come in well and, to make matters worse, he had to leave in the 68th minute after a tough collision in which he ended up with a broken head. Ferran Torres entered in his place in a window in which Gerard Martín, Héctor Fort and Lamine Yamal also entered the field for Balde, Koundé and Lewandowski, respectively. As soon as he entered, Lamine left Pau Víctor one-on-one with a spectacular pass, but the playmaker did not get the definition right.

The '19' tried again a couple of minutes later with a long shot controlled by Köhn that revived the stands in Montjuïc. However, Adi Hütter's men cut the pace of the game in the final stretch through changes and a very orderly withdrawal into the opposite field. To complete the Barça disaster in the second half, Mawissa scored the third in the 87th minute, taking advantage of another horror in the Catalan defence. Barça continued to try, with little clarity and ended up falling without mitigating circumstances. For the culés, they are undefeated for 12 years at the Gamper, with the first defeat since 2012 (0-1 against Sampdoria).

Match details: FC Barcelona 0-3 AS Monaco

• FC Barcelona: Ter Stegen (Iñaki Crag, min. 76); Koundé (Héctor Fort, min. 68), Christensen (Sergi Domínguez, min. 45), Iñigo, Balde (Gerard Martín, min. 68); Casadó, Bernal; Pau Víctor (Toni Fernández, min. 88), Pablo Tower (Gündogan, min 45; Ferran Torres, min. 68), Raphinha (Quim Junyent, min. 88); Lewandowski (Lamine Yamal, min. 68)
• AS Monaco: Köhn; Vanderson (Mawissa, min. 81), Kehrer, Salisu, Jakobs (Michal, min. 90 + 3); Lamine Camara (Diop, min. 81), Zakaria, Minamino (Bouabré, min. 81), Ben Seghir (Caio Henrique, min 76); Embolo (Ilenikhena Bennacer, min 76), Balogun (Ouattara, min. 90+3)
• Referee: García Vegetable.
• Incidences: match corresponding to the 59 edition of the Trofeo Joan Gamper
• Goals of the match: 0-1, Lamine Camara (min. 50); 0-2, Embolo (min. 57); 0-3, Mawissa (min. 87)

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