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It may only be pre-season, but an El Clasico victory is an El Clasico victory.
In the early hours of Sunday morning UK time, bitter rivals Real Madrid and Barcelona locked horns in a ‘friendly’ match and it was the latter who came away with the bragging rights.
A first half screamer from summer signing Raphinha secured a 1-0 victory for Xavi Hernandez’s side in the overpowering Las Vegas heat.
Raphinha was part of an exciting front three which included new arrival Robert Lewandowski and La Masia graduate Ansu Fati.
It was Lewandowski’s first outing in a Barcelona shirt and the Polish superstar performed pretty well overall.
Sure, the 33-year-old wasn’t quite up to the lofty standards which he set at Bayern Munich, but it would have been asking far too much to achieve that on debut.
Lewandowski hasn’t played football in two months and is still looking to build chemistry with his new teammates.
But the initial signs from him look pretty darn good, as you’ll see for yourself in the video below containing his individual highlights versus Real Madrid.
Lewandowski showed some nice touches throughout his 45 minute display and came close to scoring twice, only to be denied by a near post save from Thibaut Courtois and a heroic block from his former Bayern Munich colleague, David Alaba.
Barcelona’s new main man held the ball up well too and pressed from the front brilliantly.
When he’s up to full speed, the goals will come for Lewandowski and as a result of that, teams across the globe will fear Xavi’s side far more than last season.
After the victory over Real Madrid, the Barcelona manager spoke about Lewandowski and praised his humility since joining up with the squad.
“Lewandowski? Robert is a world star,” Xavi said. “He has scored goals throughout his career and he will score them. I would highlight the humility with which he has come and how quickly he has adapted. He makes us all better, me as a coach and the players.”
Lewandowski will get more minutes under his belt next week in Barcelona’s pre-season friendlies against Juventus and New York Red Bulls.
The Catalan side then play Pumas UNAM in the Joan Gamper Trophy final on August 7th, before their La Liga opener against Rayo Vallecano the following weekend.
Danny Ryan is a Senior Writer and Boxing Lead at GiveMeSport. He's had the pleasure of interviewing the likes of Tyson Fury, Gary Lineker, Amir Khan, Lennox Lewis, Joe Root, David Haye, Frank Warren, Kell Brook & Joseph Parker. He once got Eoin Morgan to commentate on THAT Super Over and is an above average FIFA player.
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