A brace from Hamza and Raphinha crowns Barcelona with the Joan Gamper Trophy at the expense of Al Ahly
Al-Shenawy's night of brilliance
Barcelona edged Egypt's Al Ahly 2-1 in a friendly with an official flavour, hosting their guests today, Wednesday, at the Spotify Camp Nou as part of the Joan Gamper Trophy.
A big crowd watched a tight tactical contest between the Spanish and African champions. Barça struck twice in the first half before Al Ahly pulled one back early after the break.
A distinctly Catalan half: Hamza makes his mark and Raphinha confirms it
The Red Giant came out pressing. Al Ahly bared their teeth on 13 minutes, hunting Barcelona high up the pitch to disrupt the build-up and choke off the Catalan possession early.
Hansi Flick's experienced side dealt with it quickly. Barça absorbed the enthusiasm and unpicked the Egyptian press with a mix of calm tempo and intelligent circulation to find space.
Barcelona set about imposing their usual style and controlling the game. The opening minutes brought the first physical clashes when Eric García stepped in to stop the surge of Achraf Bencharki.
Fermín López crafted Barcelona's first dangerous moment with a deceptive pass that exploited goalkeeper Mostafa Shobeir coming off his line, before Mohamed Hany intervened to clear. A real chance then fell to Raphinha inside the box, but Amr El Gazzar headed clear for a corner. Moments later the Brazilian rifled a long-range effort past the post.
The threat kept coming. Shobeir kept out a clear opening from young forward Hamza Abdelkarim, while an Al Ahly counter fizzled out as Ahmed Sayed Zizo strayed offside.
Then, on 30 minutes, the breakthrough arrived. A splendid one-two between Alejandro Baldé and Raphinha freed the full-back, whose perfect cross Hamza Abdelkarim placed into the net with ease. The young forward refused to celebrate out of respect for his former club, Al Ahly.
Barcelona nearly doubled up through a flurry of chances. Another Shobeir mistake let in Lamine Yamal, then Fermín fired in, before Karim Fouad rescued his goalkeeper by clearing an Espart effort off the line.
On 45 minutes, Raphinha turned Barcelona's superiority into a second goal, a superb strike that beat Shobeir to send the hosts in 2-0 up at the break.
A red uprising: Zizo scores and El Shenawy saves Al Ahly
Barcelona flew out of the blocks after the restart and almost scored, exploiting a glaring error from substitute goalkeeper Mohamed El Shenawy.
Al Ahly hit back fast. On 51 minutes, Ahmed Sayed Zizo grabbed their first goal from their first real attack, threading a magical pass and slotting home to make it 2-1.
That strike lifted the Red Giant. The team began to hold the ball and build attacks, and substitute Mohamed Magdy Afsha almost levelled, only for the referee to flag him offside on 60 minutes.
Barcelona surged forward again on 67 minutes, but El Shenawy shone to smother a dangerous attack and protect the one-goal margin.
Controversy followed on 70 minutes. Koka went down inside Barcelona's box and Al Ahly's players appealed loudly for a penalty, but the referee waved play on.
The excitement kept building. On 78 minutes, El Shenawy pounced on the ball ahead of a Barcelona forward clean through, denying a certain goal and keeping it at 2-1.
Barely two minutes later, Al Ahly wasted their best chance to equalise. Substitute Karim Adeyemi controlled superbly inside the box and lashed a shot straight into the arms of the Barcelona goalkeeper, and the score stayed 2-1 to Barça.
The finish crackled. In the 89th minute the referee pointed to the spot for Barcelona amid protests from Al Ahly's players, with the score still 2-1.
Up stepped substitute Gordon to take it on 90 minutes, but El Shenawy shone once more, keeping out the ball with superb skill. He denied Barcelona a third and kept the Red Giant's hopes alive to the final whistle, the score finishing 2-1 to Barcelona.
