Spanish football champion Barcelona started their pre-season campaign with a defeat on penalties to Birmingham City at “St. Andrews“. The regular time of the control match ended 2:2, and on penalties the hosts from England won 3:2, BTA reported.
With most of the players from the Catalans' first team absent after their World Cup duties, their coach Hansi Flick brought out a team of new signings, young talents and more reserves.
August Priske gave the “Blues“ a lead at a packed St Andrews, where Birmingham youth international Jude Bellingham was also in the crowd. Egyptian talent Hamza Abdelkarim equalised for Barcelona and then put the Spanish side ahead with his second goal of the game in the 59th minute. The goal came from Rooney Barji, who fired from the edge of the penalty area past Birmingham goalkeeper James Beadle. Goalkeeper James Beadle failed to save and Abdelkarim added a second for his second goal of the match - 1-2.
But John Solis equalised with a well-worked attack, leading to a penalty shootout, where James Beadle saved three Barcelona shots, helping Birmingham finish their pre-season without a defeat. Scott Wright, Ethan Lear and Patrick Robert were on target for Birmingham from the spot, while Luis Vazquez and Jack Robinson had their efforts saved. Alvaro Cortes and Guillermo Fernandez were the only ones to score for Barca, while Barji, Pesquer and Brian Fariñas failed to convert.
In addition to Abdelkarim, new signing Karim Adeyemi, who came from Borussia (Dortmund), as well as attacking midfielders Ebrahim Tunkara and Shane Kluivert - son of the team's former Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert - made their unofficial debuts for the first team of Barcelona.