Sundowns coach, Pitso Mosimane poses with his Barcelona counterpart, Ernesto Valverde.
Barcelona manager sings Sundowns’ praises after friendly encounter
The PSL champs didn’t disgrace themselves.
Sundowns coach, Pitso Mosimane poses with his Barcelona counterpart, Ernesto Valverde.
The result in Wednesday’s friendly clash between Mamelodi Sundowns and Barcelona may have suggested a bit of a walk in the park for the Catalan giants, but Pitso Mosimane’s charges did manage to leave an impression on his counterpart, Ernesto Valverde.
The Spanish side were largely untroubled as they eased to a 3-1 victory in front of a packed FNB Stadium, after racing to a two-goal first half lead, in a game that wasn’t short of excitement.
Valvrede fielded a different team in either half, and though his charges did not seem to break much of a sweat, he was full of praise for the PSL champions.
“It was a good game. It surprised us a little bit because Sundowns were really fast‚” he said.
“The speed of the team was very high‚ and they were very enthusiastic. They had several opportunities and I think that everybody has seen a good team.”
The magnitude of the occasion might have gotten to the home side, who showed signs of nerves early on as defender, Soumahoro Bangaly’s defensive error resulted in Barcelona taking the lead through Ousmane Dembele opening the scoring as early as the fourth minute.
The hosts were forced to play catch-up, and it soon went from bad to worse from them as sloppy defence from the same man saw Luis Suarez gather a through ball from his namesake, Denis Suarez before firing into the net.
As clinical as Barca were, Sundowns were rather wasteful with their few opportunities, something Mosimane attributed to the difference in class between the two sides.
“I think the difference is the Rand and the Euro, to sum it up,” Mosimane said.
“When they scored the first goal in the first minute, we started to say, ‘How many goals were coming?’”
The second half saw Andre Gomes provide the third goal for Barca, six minutes before the star attraction, Lionel Messi was introduced in the 74th minute.
His presence on the field seemed to have had a positive effect on the home side, who eventually found a consolation goal through Sibusiso Vilakazi.
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