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Barcelona Universal

·25 July 2026

Barcelona Universal

·25 July 2026

Barcelona began their pre-season with a promising 4-1 win over CE Europa, but beyond the scoreline, the night belonged to La Masia, where a number of promising young players caught Hansi Flick’s eye in the club’s first friendly of the summer.

After resuming training on July 13, the game gave Barcelona’s players their first chance to start building match sharpness ahead of the new season.

As anticipated, the German coach leaned strongly on youngsters and reserve-team players, using the fixture more to judge individual displays than to pursue a one-sided result.

Goals from Ibrahim Diarra, Hector Fort, Ebrima Tunkara and Alex Gonzalez secured a comfortable win behind closed doors, leaving Flick with several encouraging takeaways from Barcelona’s opening outing.

The friendly highlighted the depth of Barcelona’s academy, with several home-grown players making the most of the chance handed to them.

Accordingly, Diarra opened the scoring before Fort added another as Barcelona took control early.

Barcelona recorded a dominant win over CE Europa. (Picture credit: Instagram/@fcbarcelona)

Tunkara and Alex Gonzalez also got on the scoresheet to finish off an impressive team performance, further showing the quality coming through La Masia.

Even though Barcelona were clearly the stronger side throughout, the coaching staff’s main concern was never the final score.

Instead, the emphasis was on improving match fitness, checking the squad’s physical condition, and giving several young players the experience of senior football under Flick.

With many established first-team players unavailable, the match offered important minutes to footballers looking to strengthen their case before the competitive season starts.

One of the main talking points from Barcelona’s first pre-season friendly was Flick’s call to give chances to players whose futures are still undecided this summer.

Four La Masia players were on the scoresheet. (Picture credit: Instagram/@fcbarcelona)

Marc Casado, Marc-Andre ter Stegen and Roony Bardghji were all involved even though their futures remain uncertain.

In addition, new signing Karim Adeyemi was not named in the matchday squad.

After completing only his first training session with his new teammates earlier in the day, the coaching staff felt it was too early to give the German winger his unofficial debut.

Finally, Ronald Araujo and Alejandro Balde also missed the match, while Marc Bernal was left out after feeling a minor discomfort.

Barcelona decided not to take any unnecessary risks with the youngster at such an early stage of pre-season.