With Ronaldinho at AC Milan and Lionel Messi with Argentina in the Beijing Olympics, Barcelona stepped on the field against the New York Red Bulls Wednesday night without two of the world's greatest attacking players.
But, as they proved from the opening kickoff, Barcelona had more than enough firepower to beat the Red Bulls, winning 6-2 in a friendly in front of 38,152 at Giants Stadium.
No Messi? No problem. The La Liga powerhouse still had Thierry Henry, Samuel Eto'o, who struck for a first-half brace, and Xavi Hernandez, who had a goal and two assists in a spectacular opening 45 minutes.
When Henry's tap-in of an Eto'o cross was called back for offside in the 15th minute, it just delayed the inevitable. Two minutes later, Barcelona was up, 1-0, on a diving header by Xavi at the edge of the six-yard box. And less than 30 seconds later, it was 2-0 with Xavi feeding Eto'o, who scored from just inside the 18-yard box.
Barcelona made it 3-0 before the game was a half hour old when Rafael Marquez flicked an Andres Iniesta cross into the side netting.
Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes gifted the Red Bulls' first goal when he couldn't handle Dave van den Bergh's cross and Seth Stammler took the ball off his knee and blasted it into the open net in the 30th minute.
Barca saved its best for last, scoring its prettiest goal just two minutes from the half as Alexander Hleb danced around a pair of Red Bulls defenders along the right edge of the box before crossing to Eto'o, who weaved his way through traffic before beating Jon Conway for his second goal of a half almost exclusively played in the Red Bulls' defensive third.
Jorge Rojas scored his first goal in a Red Bulls uniform, tapping in Jeff Parke's low cross that deflected off of Valdes' hands on the hour mark to make it 4-2, but Barca responded in the 80th minute when Carles Puyol, who pushed up in the attack in the second half, fed Jeffren Suarez, who slotted the ball past backup goalkeeper Caleb Patterson-Sewell.
Five minutes later, Barca struck again, with Suarez cutting the ball back to the penalty spot and Pedro beating Patterson-Sewell, who made his first team debut.
If the Red Bulls are looking for some solace, Barcelona has done this to every team it's played in the preseason, beating Scottish teams Hibernian (6-1) and Dundee United (5-1) and Fiorentina from Italy, 3-1, before thrashing Chivas de Guadalajara, 5-2, at Soldier Field in Chicago Sunday.
Red Bulls coach Juan Carlos Osorio started the game with most of his first team, with Chris Leitch, Parke and Kevin Goldthwaite starting in front of Conway. The midfield consisted of van den Bergh, Rojas, Stammler and Juan Pietravallo with the newly formed tandem of Juan Pablo Angel and Danleigh Borman up top.
Barca coach Josep Guardiola made a few changes to the starting lineup from Sunday's 5-2 victory against Chivas de Guadalajara. Valdez got the start in goal and Daniel Alves, Marquez and Eric Abidal each made their second start of the U.S. tour, joining Puyol in the back.
Guardiola went with the same midfield of Xavi, Hleb, Iniesta and Seydou Keita while Henry and Samuel Eto'o combined up top.
The Red Bulls made two changes at halftime, bringing on Caleb Patterson-Sewell for Conway, who faced 10 first-half shots, and Gabriel Cichero made his debut, coming on for Borman.
Barca, meanwhile, made six changes with Gerrard Pique, Toure Yaya, Sergio Busquets, Eidur Gudjohnsen, Bojan Krkic and Pedro coming on for Alves, Iniesta, Hleb, Xavi, Keita and Eto'o.
In the 61st minute, Barcelona made two changes, bringing on Jose Martin Caceres for Marquez and Suarez for Henry. Five minutes later, Osorio brought Luke Sassano on for Mendes for the Red Bulls' third change and in the 72nd minute, Sinisa Ubiparipovic replaced van den Bergh.
Osorio made his last substitution in the 88th minute, with Andrew Boyens replacing Goldthwaite.
Barcelona returns to Spain to prepare for its UEFA Champions League qualifier against Polish champion Wisla Krakow, while the Red Bulls host D.C. United Sunday at 5 p.m. ET in a pivotal league match.
Dylan Butler is a contributor to MLSnet.com. This story was not subject to the approval of Major League Soccer or its clubs.
