Ousmane Dembele and Memphis Depay were on target as Barcelona closed their tour of the United States with a comfortable 2-0 win over New York Red Bulls on Saturday.
Dembele’s fourth goal of preseason opened the scoring at a sold-out Red Bull Arena just before the break. The French forward linked up well with Raphinha before driving home.
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Barca missed a string of chances to add to their tally, with Robert Lewandowski forced to wait for his first goal for his new club once again, before Memphis finally added the second late in the second half after Daniel Edelman had been sent off for the hosts.
Xavi Hernandez’s team now return to Spain, with their LaLiga season due to start on Aug. 13 against Rayo Vallecano, while the Red Bulls face Colorado Rapids in Major League Soccer on Tuesday.
The Red Bulls actually had the first shot of the game, Dru Yearwood‘s volley dipping just over, but they wouldn’t muster a shot on target across 90 minutes of Barca domination.
Lewandowski, a €45 million summer signing from Bayern Munich, was making his third start for Barca but he could not find his first goal for the Blaugrana, despite having a string of chances here.
The Polish striker headed a Jordi Alba cross off target, fired over after a solo run and was then twice denied by Carlos Coronel before Dembele’s opener.
Dembele, who scored twice in the 2-2 draw with Juventus in Dallas earlier in the week, drifted in from the left, played a one-two with Raphinha and then drilled a low shot past Coronel.
Xavi made five changes at the break, but Lewandowski stayed on and the chances kept coming. His deflected effort was tipped over the bar by goalkeeper Ryan Meara, on at half-time, before another save brought a wry smile from Lewandowski, aware that this might not be his night.
He was eventually substituted after 72 minutes but Barca remained in control. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang missed the target after a quick free-kick and Ansu Fati bent wide after a great run by Alejandro Balde.
Meara then made another fine stop after his teammate Hassan Ndam turned an Aubameyang cross towards his own goal.
The Red Bulls were reduced to 10 men with 10 minutes to play after youngster Edelman’s rash challenge on Pablo Torre and a late mistake from Dylan Nealis allowed Memphis to kill the game off.
Nealis expected Meara to come for a long ball over the top but instead the Dutch forward nipped in to seal a 2-0 win for Barca, who end their U.S trip with three victories and one draw.