VfB Stuttgart 0-3 Barcelona: As it happened!
A much-changed Stuttgart side slipped to defeat in their final pre-season friendly against Barcelona on Saturday.
As it happened!
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Stuttgart have so far enjoyed a five-game unbeaten run in pre-season, with a 1-1 draw with Jürgen Klopp's English Premier League outfit Liverpool and a 5-2 victory over Arminia Bielefeld particularly impressive results at this stage of the campaign. Teenage striker Mohamed Sankoh has hit five goals already, while Hamadi Al Ghaddioui has four to his name - including a hat-trick in the 3-0 win over St. Gallen - in the absence of Austria's UEFA Euro 2020 star Sasa Kalajdzic. Last season's 16-goal top-scorer has returned to training but is not available for the visit of Barcelona. At the other end of the pitch, Fabian Bredlow will continue in goal until summer signing Florian Müller returns from international duty with Germany at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games. The slated kick-off time has been moved an hour later to 6pm GMT+2 after the visitors were caught in heavy traffic on route to the stadium.
Barca's preparations have otherwise been uncomplicated and this week they were able to welcome back to training European Championship stars Jordi Alba, Martin Braithwaite and Sergio Busquets. Headline act Lionel Messi is an absentee after leading Argentina to Copa America glory this summer, while Sergio Aguero, Eric Garcia, Oscar Mingueza and Pedri are also yet to join up with their teammates. It's the same case for one-time Bayern Munich loanee Philippe Coutinho. Former Borussia Dortmund man Ousmane Dembele also misses out through injury, as does ex-Borussia Mönchengladbach goalkeeper Marc-Andre ter Stegen. Those that have travelled with the squad, however, include the likes of reigning world champion Antoine Griezmann, as well as the Dutch duo of Memphis Depay and Frenkie de Jong, who all start in Stuttgart.
Match stats
- Stuttgart have faced Barcelona four times in competitive matches but are yet to taste victory over the Spanish giants. Barca have won three and there has been one draw between the two, with all four games coming in the UEFA Champions League.
- Cacau and Antonio da Silva - who both won the Bundesliga with Stuttgart in 2006/07 - are the two players to have scored against Barcelona for VfB across those four previous meetings.
- Kalajdzic's goal against eventual Euro 2020 champions Italy in the quarter-finals of the tournament was his fourth in just 11 senior international outings.
- Coutinho made 38 appearances - scoring 11 times and providing nine assists across all competitions in the 2019/20 campaign with Bayern, collecting a Bundesliga, DFB Cup and Champions League treble of trophies in the process.
- Die Mannschaft goalie Ter Stegen featured 108 times for Gladbach in the German top-flight, keeping 36 clean sheets in the process.
- Dembele was named the 2016/17 Bundesliga Rookie of the Season after his single season at the Signal Iduna Park that proceeded his move to the Camp Nou.
CONFIRMED line-ups
Stuttgart: Bredlow - Nothnagel, Stenzel (c), Kempf - Massimo, Weil, Karazor, Polster - Förster, Klement - Klimowicz
Subs: Schock, Michel, Maglica, Wolf, Bazzoli
Out: Ahamada (calf), Cisse (foot), Egloff (foot), Führich (collarbone), Kalajdzic (not included), Mola (hip), Silas (knee)
Coach: Pellegrino Matarazzo
Barcelona: Neto - Dest, Pique (c), Lenglet - Roberto, Nico, De Jong, Gavi - Demir, Greizmann, Memphis
Subs: TBC
Out: Dembele (hamstring), Mingueza (muscular), ter Stegen (knee), Wague (knee)
Coach: Ronald Koeman
