Barcelona Triangular: Blaugrana Face Udinese and Forest in Udine
Barcelona travelled to Italy on Saturday to contest the inaugural Friuli Venezia Giulia triangular tournament at Udinese’s Bluenergy Stadium, taking on the Serie A hosts and Premier League side Nottingham Forest. The Barcelona triangular is the latest test of Hansi Flick’s pre-season, with the champions again leaning on La Masia youngsters and first-team reserves before the new campaign.
How the Barcelona triangular works
As Barça Blaugranes explained, the three teams meet in a round-robin of 45-minute matches, so each side plays the equivalent of a full 90 minutes across the evening. A win inside the 45 is worth three points; a draw goes to penalties, with two points for the shoot-out winner and one for the loser. Udinese and Nottingham Forest open proceedings before Barça enter the fray.
Bisiwu in line for his debut
The night could offer a first glimpse of summer signing Jesse Bisiwu. Barça Universal reported, citing SPORT, that the 18-year-old winger who arrived from Club Brugge is set to make his unofficial Barcelona bow. With Roony Bardghji left out as he nears an exit, Bisiwu joins Karim Adeyemi and Raphinha among Flick’s wide options while Lamine Yamal and Anthony Gordon are still to return.
It is another useful workout before the serious business begins. Barcelona next face a friendly against Basel as Flick fine-tunes his squad for the defence of their LaLiga crown.
