04.08.2010 15:13
K-League win curiosities
David Saura (enviat especial)
FC Barcelona played a K-League Select XI in front of 32,581 spectators in the Seoul World Cup Stadium in the country’s capital on Wednesday.
The absence of Spain’s World Cup winning players from the squad may have dampened interest
slightly, but the fans that did attend were able to enjoy a cameo from Lionel Messi as he came off
the bench to score twice in a 2-5 win for the visitors. Below are a number of anecdotes from the
Blaugrana’s second pre-season friendly.
-Messi and Dani Alves made their first appearances in pre-season while
Adriano made his first start for the club.
-Éric Abidal captained Barça in the second half of the match almost exactly three years since
he made his first appearance in a Barça shirt, which was a 0-3 victory in Beijing. Gaby Milito was
skipper in the first period.
-Víctor Sánchez is Barça’s Barça’s top goalscorer in pre-season after he bagged
his second. Jonathan Soriano netted his first goal for the FC Barcelona first team.
-Messi was given an award as Man of the Match while Zlatan Ibrahimovic was given a prize for
being the most competitive player.
-The Barça team warmed up on a small pitch next to the dressing room where artificial grass
has been laid to avoid spoiling the field outside. Only the goalkeepers actually did their
pre-match exercises on the playing surface.
-Two people jumped onto the field of play in the second half and both were caught and removed
by security guards.
-At kick off time the temperature on the pitch was 30 degrees Celsius and the humidity was 80
per cent.
-Barça played their first game in the new green away shirts. It is the
first time the side has donned the colour since 1997.
-The players took to the field wearing blue shirts that had the message ‘Infinitely
yours, Seoul’ printed on the front to promote tourism to the South Korean capital.
-Before the game there was a video promoting Catalunya in which Barça stars such as Bojan
Krkic, Xavi and Andrés Iniesta featured.
-One of the stands in the stadium was occupied mainly by people wearing green shirts to
promote the brand Herbalife, a sponsor of FC Barcelona.