Barcelona 2-2 Man City (Jul 30, 2024) Game Analysis

Manchester City and Barcelona played out an entertaining 2-2 draw in Orlando on Tuesday after the game was delayed for more than an hour.

Kick-off at Camping World Stadium was put back by 80 minutes because of a weather warning. City’s first game of their United States tour, a 4-3 defeat to Celtic, was also delayed because of inclement weather.

When the game finally kicked off, Erling Haaland thought he had scored inside the opening 15 minutes, but an effort from Oscar Bobb‘s cross which looked like it had crossed the line wasn’t given.

Instead it was Barcelona who opened the scoring through Pau Victor. Victor scored under pressure from Kalvin Phillips after being put through thanks to a delicate flick from Marc Casadó.

City equalised through 19-year-old Nico O’Reilly, but Barcelona were back ahead just before half-time when Victor cleverly let the ball run for Pablo Torre to score.

Both teams made changes at half-time — Pep Guardiola withdrew Haaland and Ederson — and City equalised shortly afterwards through Jack Grealish after a superb run from Mateo Kovacic which started on the edge of City’s penalty area.

In the post-match penalty shootout, Phillips was among the City players to miss from the spot as Barcelona won 4-1.

City are next in action against Chelsea in Ohio on Saturday while Barcelona face La Liga rivals Real Madrid in New Jersey.