Two of soccer’s preeminent clubs put on quite a show at FedEx Field on Tuesday night, as Chelsea FC fought FC Barcelona to a 2-2 draw over 90 minutes before prevailing 4-2 in a penalty-kick shootout in an International Champions Cup match.
A spirited crowd of 78,914 was on hand to see the Blues (last season’s English Premier League winners) complete their preparations for the upcoming campaign by taking on the Blaugrana (current holders of the UEFA Champions League and Spanish La Liga titles). The two sides contested an entertaining and surprisingly intense match, with the quality and competitiveness of play significantly higher than normal for a preseason friendly.
Chelsea arrived with essentially their full squad, while Barcelona was missing four-time world player of the year Lionel Messi, who was allowed to skip the club’s preseason tour to rest after leading Argentina to the Copa America final earlier this summer. Barca standouts Neymar, Javier Mascherano, Dani Alves, and Claudio Bravo also remained on leave.
Barcelona still had plenty of attacking talent on hand, as evidenced when striker Luis Suarez tested the Chelsea defense with several marauding runs into the box in the opening minutes. However, it was Chelsea that would strike first in the tenth minute, as star midfielder Eden Hazard dribbled through a swarm of defenders on the way to putting away a right-footed finish from ten yards out.
The score remained 1-0 until the 52nd minute, when Suarez collected a poor clearance and made a clever fake before chipping the ball over Chelsea goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois. Barcelona would take the lead in the 66th minute, as Sandro Ramirez created space in the box with a nifty cutback before unleashing a superb, curling strike past a diving Courtois. Off a free kick from Willian in the 85th minute, Gary Cahill outjumped Barca keeper Jordi Masip and a pair of defenders to head in the equalizer, sustaining a bloody nose in the process.
As was the case during last year’s International Champions Cup match at FedEx Field, Tuesday’s contest would be decided in a penalty-kick shootout. Andres Iniesta stepped up first and scored for Barcelona, and Radamel Falcao found the top corner for Chelsea before Barca’s Alen Halilovic hit the post. Thibaut showed his class by making a diving stop on Gerard Pique’s attempt, and Chelsea’s Ramires and Loic Remy subsequently converted to seal the victory for the Blues.
After the match (which he characterized as a “good training session”), Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho downplayed the significance of the result, but acknowledged the value of such matches in continuing to grow the sport in America: “It was 2-2. It could have been 4-4. The penalties mean nothing to us, nothing for Barca, but for the people it means a lot. The 70,000 or so people that were here go home happy. It was good promotion for soccer in the U.S. and good for the promotion of our clubs.”
