Barcelona ended their pre-season tour of the United States on a slightly poor note after falling to a 4-3 penalty shootout defeat at the hands of Milan.
A real game of two halves, Milan raced in front with goals from Luka Jovic and Christian Pulisic in the first 15 minutes, before Robert Lewandowski fired two strikes past Lorenzo Torriani to bring Barca level.
Milan then edged Barca in the shootout, scoring four goals to the Spaniards’ three.
Here’s what we learned from their meeting in Connecticut.
Despite being almost 36-years-old, Lewandowski still commands the pitch for Barca, and it’s worrying to imagine how they may perform without him.
Both of La Blaugrana’s goals came from Lewandowski, and his flick onto Pau Victor’s offside chance would’ve been an immense assist. There’s a reason he still leads the attacking line, his presence and skill in front of goal is outstanding – he will be the key to their success this season.
While Barca didn’t have too much to cheer about at the end of this encounter, the Poland international can return home with pride.
This may not a new finding for Barcelona fans, but the club may seriously have to rethink their decision to keep Marc-Andre ter Stegen if they want to see success this season.
The German goalkeeper has become unreliable between the sticks, missing saves he should make and putting Barca in dangerous positions more often than not. He’s been at the club for 10 seasons, and now it may be time to move him on and bring in fresh talent.
Barca may want to move quickly and replace the keeper if they are to climb the ranks of La Liga and steal the title back from Real Madrid.
Barcelona have to improve their defence if they are to compete for La Liga this year, it’s as simple as that.
In attack, they’re not terrible and have some standout characters who can find the back of the net. But the defence, paired with Ter Stegen in goal, needs some work. Their opponents are able to split open the backline with ease.
Hansi Flick will need to spend some time perfecting his system at this end of the pitch ahead of the 2024/25 season. Time is running out though, and improving their defence is the only way Barca can stand a chance.
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