For Barcelona, the pre-season tour of the USA ended on a somewhat sour note after the team lost 4-3 to Milan on penalties.
This game really was a game of two halves: Milan took an early lead in the first 15 minutes with goals from Luka Jovic and Christian Pulisic before Robert Lewandowski fired two shots past Lorenzo Torriani to equalise for Barca.
Milan then beat Barca on penalties, scoring four goals while the Spaniards only scored three.
Here’s what we learned from their meeting in Connecticut.
Robert Lewandowski is still the game changer
Despite being nearly 36 years old, Lewandowski still dominates the pitch for Barca and it is worrying to imagine how they would perform without him.
Lewandowski scored both of La Blaugrana’s goals and his clearance from Pau Victor’s offside chance would have been a tremendous assist. There’s a reason he still leads the attack, his presence and ability in front of goal is outstanding – he will be key to their success this season.
Even though Barca did not have much reason to celebrate at the end of this match, the Polish international can return home full of pride.
Barcelona may need to rethink its goalkeeping situation
This may not be news to FC Barcelona fans, but the club may need to reconsider its decision to keep Marc-André ter Stegen if it wants to be successful this season.
The German goalkeeper has become unreliable between the sticks, missing saves he should have made and putting Barca in dangerous situations more often. He has been at the club for 10 seasons and now it may be time to offload him and bring in fresh talent.
Barca may have to act quickly and replace the goalkeeper if the club wants to gain promotion in La Liga and reclaim the title from Real Madrid.
Still needs to be added at the back
Barcelona need to improve their defense if they want to compete in La Liga this year, it’s that simple.
They are not bad in attack and have some outstanding characters who can score goals. But the defense with Ter Stegen in goal still needs improvement. Their opponents can break through the defense line with ease.
Hansi Flick will need to spend some time perfecting his system in this area of the pitch ahead of the 2024/25 season, but time is running out and only if Barca have a chance will he need to improve his defense.
