Barcelona vs Girona live blog, full-time: Coutinho, Messi score as Barça win second friendly

FULL-TIME, Barcelona 3-1 Girona: Another solid overall performance, and another exciting performance from the youngsters. Good win, boys!

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86min: CHANCE! Brilliant pass from Riqui Puig to find the overlapping Junior Firpo and Pedri has his shot blocked away for another corner. Barça have been excellent with the kids on the pitch.

80min: Another chance! Nice passing sequence around the box and the ball finds Braithwaite who has his shot blocked away for a corner.

73min: CHANCE! Konrad goes on an AMAZING solo run and finds Pedri in a great position to score, but the young man’s shot is brilliantly stopped by Juan Carlos.

66min: CHANCE! Nice low cross by Aleñá and Pedri fires a beauty with his left foot that requires another good save. The difference in speed and movement with this team is crazy.

65min: First meaningful attacking move from the new XI and Semedo fires a shot from distance that is easily stopped by the Girona keeper.

63min: After the changes, this is the Barça XI: Neto; Semedo, Araujo, Lenglet, Firpo; Puig, Aleñá; Dembélé, Pedri, Konrad; Braithwaite

62min: Nine changes from Barça at the 60-minute mark as expected with every outfield player except for Araujo going off.

60min: Barça playing better football after scoring the third, with more movement and intensity up front.

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GOAL! Barcelona 3-1 Girona (Messi 51’): IT’S THREE FOR BARÇA! The Blaugrana’s first attacking move of the second half down the right side ends with a shot from Messi that deflects off a Girona defender and goes into the net.

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GOAL, Barcelona 2-1 Girona (Samu 46’): Girona score after a terrible pass at the back from De Jong, a good assist from Jairo and a nice finish by Samu Sáiz.

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SECOND HALF KICKOFF! Barcelona 2-0 Girona: No changes at halftime from Koeman, which is a little surprising. The same team starts the second half and will probably play around 15 more minutes here.

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FIRST HALF HIGHLIGHTS: Coutinho and Messi scored two very good goals as Barça have a nice halftime lead over Girona. Check it out:

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HALFTIME, Barcelona 2-0 Girona: Solid first half from Barça and two very good goals. Ronald, Coutinho and Messi the standout performers in the first 45.

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GOLAZO! Barcelona 2-0 Girona (Messi 45’): IT’S TWO AND IT’S A BEAUTY! After a pass from Coutinho, Messi decides to fire from distance with his RIGHT foot and the ball goes in off the post! What a rocket from Leo!

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44min: CHANCE! Messi takes a gorgeous free-kick that is destined for the top corner but Juan Carlos makes an excellent stop.

40min: CHANCE! Coutinho makes his trademark run from left to right and fires a strong shot from distance. Good save from Juan Carlos.

38min: Good minutes from Girona, who have more of the ball and are getting their wide players involved. Barça look well organized without the ball so far and Ronald Araujo is using his pace to make some great plays at the back.

35min: They’re still passing.

28min: Barça continue to have the ball and pass it around in enemy territory but are very slow in possession, with not enough movement to break the defense down.

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GOAL! Barcelona 1-0 Girona (Coutinho 21’): BARÇA TAKE THE LEAD! A ball is recovered high up the pitch, Messi makes a GENIUS pass to find a wide open Trincão, and the Portuguese gives Coutinho a tap-in. Very nice opening goal.

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20min: CHANCE! Another short corner results in a low cross from Coutinho and both Messi and Araujo have their shots blocked just a couple yards away from goal.

17min: Very physical start from Barça with a couple of hard fouls.

12min: First chance for Girona as Jairo fires a shot from distance. Easy save for Neto.

6min: WOODWORK! A short corner gets to Coutinho and his shot is deflected and hits the crossbar.

5min: Nice attacking move with the ball moving from side to side, a great overlap from Alba but his cutback to Messi is sent away for a corner.

1min: Barça in a 4-2-3-1 as expected, but with a slight change: Messi is the lone striker with Griezmann in behind him as Koeman experiments with the setup.

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KICKOFF! Barcelona 0-0 Girona: And we’re underway! Mix of youth and experience, exciting team, stronger opponent, let’s do this!

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LINEUPS

BARCELONA 1ST HALF

Starting XI: Neto; Roberto, Piqué, Araujo, Alba; Busquets, De Jong; Trincão, Messi, Coutinho; Griezmann (4-2-3-1)

Bench: Peña (GK), Arnau (GK), Lenglet, Cuenca, Semedo, Firpo, Aleñá, Puig, Pedri, Dembélé, Konrad, Braithwaite

GIRONA

Starting XI: Carlos; Calavera, Alcalá, Bernardo, Mojica; Gumbau, Kebe; Valery, Jairo, Samu; Adrià (4-2-31)

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WELCOME TO THE ESTADI JOHAN CRUYFF!!! The home of Barça B is the site of Barcelona’s second preseason friendly of the Ronald Koeman era against Girona. Koeman is once again expected to use a different lineup for each half, mixing up the players and giving us an idea of his favorite team as we inch closer to Barça’s La Liga debut. This should be fun, and you’re welcome to join us to follow and comment all the action. LET’S LIVE BLOG!

(Note: the comments will be open only when the team news come out, because our commenter people love commenting and sometimes there are too many comments in the comments section)

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MATCH INFO

Date/Time: Wednesday, September 16, 2020, 7pm CET (Barcelona), 6pm BST/WAT (UK & Nigeria), 1pm ET, 10am PT (USA), 10.30pm (India)

Venue: Estadi Johan Cruyff, Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain

HOW TO WATCH, STREAM PRESEASON FRIENDLY

How to watch on TV: TV3 (Spain)

How to stream: BarçaTV+ (paid subscription)

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Have fun with the game! Forever and ever, no matter the competition, VISCA EL BARÇA!