Barcelona play the second game on their pre-season tour of Asia this week, as FC Seoul provide the opposition at the Seoul World Cup Stadium.
Hansi Flick’s side were not involved in the Club World Cup, so they are a bit further along in their pre-season preparations than their main domestic rivals Real Madrid and Atletico Madrid. They’ve taken a very strong squad to the South Korean capital for this game, and head to Seoul in good spirits after a 3-1 victory over Vissel Kobe in Japan.
That was their first friendly building up to the new campaign, and no Barca player clocked up the full 90 minutes, with this tour very much about fitness, as well as the obvious desire to generate fresh revenue. The likes of Raphinha, Lamine Yamal, Robert Lewandowski and new signing Marcus Rashford all featured in Kobe, but the goals came from less expected sources, with Eric Garcia, Roony Bardghji and Pedro Fernandez Sarmiento on target.
FC Seoul should have the edge in terms of fitness here, given they are right in the middle of their season. They currently sit fourth in the K League, although they are 18 points shy of runaway leaders Jeonbuk. The Dark Red Warriors were in league action on Sunday, defeating Daejeon Hana Citizen 1-0 thanks to a penalty from former England international Jesse Lingard.
These clubs have not previously met, but Barcelona have played friendlies in Korea before. Pep Guardiola’s side defeated a K-League All Stars lineup 5-2 in 2010, while they lost 1-0 to Suwon Samsung in a friendly in this city back in 2004.
The hosts are likely to name a strong lineup, but they are missing Tae-wook Jeong due to injury.
Flick may make light changes to the side that started against Vissel Kobe. He’s without the injured Marc-Andre ter Stegen, while the game will also come too soon for young midfielder Marc Bernal.
FC Seoul: Kang, Kim Jin-su, Kim Ju-sung, Al-Arab, Park, Rodrigues, Hwang, Jeong, Oliveira, Lingard, Cho.
Barcelona: J. Garcia, Balde, Cubarsi, Araujo, Kounde, Pedri, Casado, Olmo, Raphinha, Lewandowski, Yamal.
