Barca Confirmed 19th August
We are delighted to announce a mouth-watering friendly against European Champions Barcelona in the Camp Nou on August 19.
The two sides will face on another in the 44th renewal of the prestigious Joan Gamper Trophy.
Though they didn’t face Barca in their previous outing, it will be the second time the Blues have competed for this particular trophy which honours a man who was a member, player and later president of the great Catalan club.
That was back in 1982, when the tournament was made up of four teams. City reached the final after beating Cologne in the semi-finals after a penalty shootout ended the 1-1 stalemate. We lost the final 3-1 to Porto Alegre who beat the hosts in the semi finals.
Next month’s match with be the sixth meeting between the two sides – all of them friendlies – with the score standing at 3-1 for the La Liga side with one draw.
The first meeting between Barça and the Blues dates back to 1952 and Barcelona’s old Les Corts ground. The most significant duel was in 1974, in commemoration of Barcelona’s 75th anniversary. On that occasion the Blues put out a side brimming with names who have written themselves into the fabric of the club’s history.
Our line up that night was as follows: MacRae, Barrett, Donachie, Henson, Clark, Oakes, Summerbee, Bell, Marsh, Keegan, and Tueart.
The two teams met most recently at the City of Manchester Stadium when the Blues, despite facing a side containing Ronaldinho, Overmars, Kluivert, Xavi and Iniesta won 2-1 with goals from Nicolas Anelka and Trevor Sinclair.
Ticket details for the contest will follow as soon as we have them.
