Chelsea beat Barcelona in the Rakuten Cup in Saitama on Tuesday evening.
Tammy Abraham gave Frank Lampard's Blues the lead in the first-half before Ross Barkley doubled the advantage after the break. Ivan Rakitic pulled one back late on but the Premier League side held on to claim a morale-boosting victory.
The outing was Barca's first of pre-season and saw £107m summer signing Antoine Griezmann make his debut.
Welcome
Good morning and welcome to The Independent's live coverage of Barcelona vs Chelsea.
Give the spectacle we were treated to when Tottenham beat Juventus 3-2 at the weekend, there is no doubt that this match will also excite.
Pre-season games are picking up in their competitiveness and this game promises to continue that trend.
Chelsea have not made the best start to their pre-season campaign and produced a lackluster display against reigning J1 League champions Kawasaki Frontale last time out.
Barcelona represent a very different test and the Catalan side will give Chelsea absolutely nothing here.
Team news
Griezmann starts!
Barcelona XI: Ter Stegen, Sergi Roberto, Piqué, Umtiti, Alba, Busquets, O.Busquets, Riqui Puig, Collado, Griezmann, Dembelé.
Team news
Christian Pulisic makes his first start as a Chelsea player.
It looks like a 4-2-3-1 formation.
Cheslea: Kepa, Azpilicueta, Christensen, David Luiz, Emerson, Jorginho, Kovacic, Pedro, Mount, Pulisic, Abraham
Subs: Caballero, Cumming, Alonso, Drinkwater, Tomori, Barkley, Bakayoko, Zouma, Kenedy, Zappacosta, Palmer, Giroud, Batshuayi
The signing of Barcelona debutante, Antoine Griezmann, may have scuppered any potential deal for Neymar this summer as he has stretched their finances.
Meeting PSG’s reported €300 million asking price for Neymar seems impossible. That would explain why Barca have apparently offered both Philippe Coutinho and Ousmane Dembele in part-exchange, plus €40 million on top, only to see that rejected by PSG.
Barca's most recent big money arrivals Coutinho and Dembele must be sold to have any realistic possibility of signing Neymar now, according to former Barcelona chief marketing & commercial officer Esteve Calzada.
Full story here.
Players are in the tunnel. Chelsea are once again in their white away strip.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
2 mins: Immediate corner for Barcelona. Whipped in, Oriol Busquets has a free header from 10 yards. Wastefully heads it onto the roof of the net.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
4 mins: Better from Chelsea after a couple of scares early on. Bit of aggressive pressure allows Kovacic to whip a ball into the box which César Azpilicueta heads behind goal.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
6 mins: Chelsea clearly have instructions to press high up the pitch. Almost catch the Barcelona defense sleeping, just manage to clear.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
8 mins: Christian Pulisic fouled. Chelsea take the free kick quickly. Emerson whips one across the box but it is put behind for a corner. Corner unfortunately comes to nothing.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
10 mins: Barcelona trying to hold a bit of possession as is their way. Chelsea's pressure causing problems though.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
12 mins: Wonderful move from Barca. What must be a sequence of 20+ passes eventually fails to produce an end product and Chelsea clear. Tammy Abraham unable to hold the ball up and Barca win back possession.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
15 mins: Close for Barca with Griezmannn at the heart of it. A neat flick to Dembele puts him through on goal but Kepa smothers before a shot is taken.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
17 mins: Wasteful from Tammy Abraham. A shot from Pedro hits him right in the chest before the ball comes back to him and he passes it out for a goal kick. Not quite up to speed yet.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
19 mins: Jorginho perhaps lucky not to be booked. Two footed tackle on Griezmann leaves the Frenchman on the deck. Back up now and play resumes.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
20 mins: Barcelona the more likely here. First a Griezmann shot is blocked in the box before a weak hand ball appeal against Azpilicueta.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
23 mins: Abraham has to score!
Pulisic dribbles in to the box, cuts inside, his shot is saved. It comes back to Abraham who blazes the ball over from 10 yards.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
24 mins: Long ball to Mount and he shows great tenacity to skip past a defender and get a shot off from 25 yards. Just over the bar.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
27 mins: Abraham looking a little out of touch. Would have buried that chance for Villa last season. Chelsea keeping possession a little better now.
Barcelona 0 - 0 Chelsea
28 mins: Chelsea starting to ask some questions now. Pedro skims a ball into the box from the right where he finds Pulisic who doesn't quite connect and puts the ball wide to the keepers right.
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