Lionel Messi proved that fitness was no problem a as he made the most of his cameo role by scoring twice in 15 minutes before the break as FC Barcelona beat a K-League Select XI in Seoul.
The Argentinian’s brace came after Zlatan Ibrahimovic had levelled following then hosts’ opener and Víctor Sánchez and Jonathan Sánchez both scored late on to give the Blaugrana a convincing triumph.
Early efforts
In front of a fanatical crowd in the Bucheon Stadium in the South Korean capital a Barça team made up of both first-team regulars and youth team hopefuls took another step towards gaining full fitness in their second game of pre-season. After the win in the first encounter in Norway last week against Valerenga, Pep Guardiola’s side maintained their 100 per cent record with another win, but only after they had conceded twice.
There was a surprising start to the game as a long pass down Barça ‘s right evaded everyone, including goalkeeper José Manuel Pinto as he rushed from his goal, and Choi Sung Kuk was left with the simple task of rolling the ball home to put the K-League side ahead. That lead did not last long, however, as Jonathan Dos Santos rolled the ball into Ibrahimovic and the Swedish striker ran on before side-footing it past the keeper.
Messi brace
Both teams continued to try and build from the back and Barça were able to employ their familiar 4-3-3 formation with newcomer Adriano starting at right-back as he sought to gain more understanding of what Guardiola requires of him. The Brazilian was unable to do anything to stop the home team regaining the lead nine minutes before the break though as the ball went down the opposite flank before a cross was met by Lee Dong Gook and he was able to head inside the near post.
Messi had entered the fray on the half-hour mark, along with Dani Alves and both did not take long to make their presence felt as the full-back found the forward and he slid the ball into the far corner of the net. Moments later Messi brought the crowd to their feet once again as he cut inside from the right and curled a superb shot into the top corner to give Barça the lead for the first time.
Two late goals
At the break Guardiola made numerous changes and the rhythm of the game did not change, but the frequent scoring did as both sides went close but were unable to score until a late double put some gloss on the scoreline for the visitors. Rubén Miño was called upon twice as he palmed away a drive from Lucio and then pushed a long-range effort from Indio around the post. With six minutes remaining Barça netted their fourth of the evening when Cristian Tello shot was pushed into the path of Víctor Sánchez was able to score and in the 90th minute Tello turned provider as his superb low centre was rolled in by Soriano.
