Izuchukwu OkosiBarcelona claimed their first pre season win ahead of the 2023/2024 campaign with an emphatic 3-0 win over La Liga rivals, Real Madrid in Dallas, USA in the early hours of Sunday morning Nigerian time.
The result was the same outcome when both sides faced each other in last years Pre season preparations.
Both Carlo Ancelotti and Xavi Hernandez named very strong sides for the match, and it was Barcelona that started brightly. They came agonisingly close to opening the scoring early on, but Oriol Romeu’s thunderous volley crashed off the crossbar.
Fortunately for Barcelona, they took the lead soon after.
A well-worked free-kick routine between Ilkay Gundogan and Pedri allowed Ousmane Dembele time inside the box, and he finished beyond Thibaut Courtois.
Real Madrid came very close to equalising soon after on multiple occasions. They were awarded a penalty which Vinicius Junior could only hit the crossbar with, and they hit the woodwork twice more in quick succession.
It was a very feisty affair in Dallas, with several strong tackles from both sides.
Both sides felt the effects of this, as Gundogan and Andreas Christensen as both suffered knocks, neither of which are believed to be serious. Ferland Mendy was also replaced, although he appeared to suffer a hamstring injury.
Aurelien Tchouameni struck a sensational effort against the bar from long range, and Barcelona made Real Madrid pay for their profligacy as they added a second late on, courtesy of a brilliant effort from youngster Fermin Lopez.
Ferran Torres also added a very late third after being set up with Lopez.
Those goals ensured that Barcelona picked up the first victory of their pre-season schedule after the 5-3 defeat to Arsenal, which Xavi will no doubt be absolutely delighted with.
Izuchukwu Okosi is a Nigerian sports and entertainment journalist with two decades of experience in the media industry having begun his media journey in 2002 as an intern at Mundial Sports International (MSI) and Africa Independent Television (AIT), owners of Daar Communications Plc.
In October 2004, Okosi joined Complete Communications Limited, publishers of Complete Sports newspaper and Complete Football magazine as a reporter and later script writer for the Complete Sports studio.
He worked there for 13 years until October 2017.
Okosi also worked various times as Correspondent, Content creator and Editor at Sports Market International Magazine, Opera News, All Nigeria Soccer Media and Iconic Media Watch.
He also undertook freelance writing gigs for some local and international organizations.
Okosi is a member of the Actors Guild of Nigeria (AGN), Association of Movie Producers (AMP), Association of Voiceover Artistes of Nigeria (AVOA), Sports Writers Association of Nigeria (SWAN) and Nigeria Union of Journalists (NUJ).
He has been part of cast in some Nollywood movies and radio dramas including Blood Money 2, Scores To Settle, Dead End 2, Another Campus Tale and Battle Line.
Aside mainstream media and the entertainment industry, he has interests in scouting/unearthing of talents in the sports and creative sectors, exports business and property development.
Follow Us