Ousmane Dembele and Memphis Depay scored as Barcelona wrapped up their tour of the United States with a comfortable 2-0 victory over the New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
Dembele’s fourth pre-season goal opened the scoring at the Red Bull Arena just before the end of the first half. The French striker bonded well with Ravenha before he drove home.
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Barcelona missed a series of opportunities to add to its tally, as Robert Lewandowski had to wait for his first goal for his new team again, before Memphis finally added the second goal at the end of the second half after Daniel Edelman was sent off in favor of the hosts. .
Xavi Hernandez’s side is now back in Spain and is set to start his La Liga season on August 13 against Rayo Vallecano, while the Red Bulls face the Colorado Rapids in the Major League Soccer on Tuesday.
The Red Bulls actually got the first shot of the game, and Dru Yearwood’s ball went down a bit, but they didn’t have a shot on target within 90 minutes of Barcelona’s dominance.
Lewandowski, a €45m summer deal from Bayern Munich, made his third start with Barcelona but was unable to score his first goal for Blaugrana, despite having a string of chances here.
The Polish striker headed Jordi Alba’s cross from the goal, and he shot over the goal after a single round and then was saved by Carlos Coronel twice before the opening match for Dembele.
Dembele, who scored twice in the 2-2 draw with Juve in Dallas earlier in the week, drifted from the left, playing for Ravenha, then smashing a low shot past Coronel.
Xavi made five changes in the first half, but Lewandowski persisted and chances continued. Goalkeeper Ryan Mira skewed his effort over the bar, at the end of the first half, before his last save brought a wry smile from Lewandowski, realizing this might not be his night.
He was eventually replaced after 72 minutes but Barcelona remained in control. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed the goal after a quick free kick and Ansu Fati leaned wide after a superb attack by Alejandro Balde.
Then Mira stopped again well after his teammate Hassan Nadam converted a cross from Aubameyang towards his goal.
The Red Bulls were reduced to 10 men 10 minutes before play after young Edelman’s surprise challenge to Pablo Toure and a late error from Dylan Nellis allowed Memphis to finish the match.
Nellis expected Mira to shoot a long ball over the top, but the Dutch striker scored the winning goal 2-0 for Barcelona, who ended his trip with the United States with three wins and one draw.
