Pep Guardiola returns to Camp Nou on Wednesday as his Premier League champions Manchester City take on LaLiga giants Barcelona in a friendly match despite both clubs having kicked off their 2022-23 seasons weeks ago.
City are three matches into the title defence they began on Aug. 7, having lost to Liverpool at Wembley in the Community Shield eight days previously on July 30, while Barca will play their third game of the season on Sunday against Real Valladolid (stream LIVE at 1:30 p.m. ET on ESPN+ in the U.S.). And before that, both clubs travelled to the United States for their preseason tours, racking up six games between them across the Atlantic last month.
But they have still found time in their schedules to play in Wednesday’s match, which is for a worthy cause that is close to Guardiola’s heart as well as all those involved with Barca.
A lot has changed since City last played at Barcelona, where Guardiola won two Champions Leagues among 14 trophies during his glorious four years in charge from 2008-2012. On that occasion, in 2016, Lionel Messi struck a hat trick and Neymar added a late fourth after City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was sent off early in the second half in a Champions League group-stage game.
The clubs’ trajectories have gone in opposite directions since then.
City have got better and better under former Barca coach Guardiola, winning the Premier League in four of the past five seasons, although European success still eludes them.
Barca, meanwhile, have lost Messi and Neymar, racked up more than €1 billion in debt and fallen away from Europe’s top tier of clubs, winning just one Copa del Rey during the past three seasons. There is hope, though, after a summer of more spending, that they’re ready to reassert themselves as one of the continent’s best sides.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga, MLS, more (U.S.)
Why are Barcelona and Man City playing this match?
This friendly was originally scheduled to take place last year, but it was postponed due to the coronavirus pandemic. The attendance would have been capped at 30,000, per local government restrictions at the time, and the clubs wanted the game to be played in a full stadium — Camp Nou holds almost 100,000.
That’s because the money raised from the game will go towards research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) in the name of Juan Carlos Unzue, who was diagnosed with the condition at the start of 2020.
Barca and City had looked for a date in preseason, but summer tours abroad took precedence and it proved impossible to find a day that worked for both teams. Therefore, they reached the slightly unusual decision to hold the match this Wednesday, even though both sides have already started their domestic seasons.
