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photo by Matt Kremkau |
It's been a long time since these two sides faced each other when the club played at Giants Stadium., but as they say third time is the charm. The New York Red Bulls will face off in a friendly against the Catalan club who ply their trade in Spain's LaLiga and takes on FC Barcelona. This means the originally scheduled league match against the Colorado Rapids on July 30 has been moved down to Tuesday, August 2nd.
The last two times these sides faced each other was at the former Giants Stadium. back in 2006 Tony Meola nearly saved a penalty off of Ronaldinho, while Youri Djorkaeff scored the only goal for the club.
The next matchup in 2008 was seeing Thierry Henry and Lionel Messi tag-teaming against the Red Bulls and blowing them out of the water. scoring multiple goals against Juan Carlos Osorio's team. But now the young kids are going to truly learn what it will mean to take on a big-time club in Europe as they face one of the kings in Club football in Europe.
"We are extremely honored to host FC Barcelona at Red Bull Arena, one of the premier soccer venues in all of North America," said Marc de Grandpré, General Manager, New York Red Bulls. "Since 2010, we have proudly hosted many of the top men's and women's clubs throughout the world and on July 30, we look forward to writing a new chapter in this stadium's history when welcoming Barça for a match against your New York Red Bulls."
Currently, Barcelona is being managed by former player Xavi Hernandez. with solid players with Gerard Pique, Sergio Busquets, young players like Pedri, Ansu Fati, and of course the diamond of the past winter transfer window Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang who will be on the roster for this big-time friendly.
Since Red Bull Arena opened in the 2010 season, they have hosted many clubs from Europe and South America to play in friendly matches or hosted National Teams from around the world, even hosted CONCACAF National Teams in the Gold Cup. Santos of Brazil. Olympic Lyon, French Super Cup match, Juventus, Manchester City, Tottenham & Sporting Lisbon in the Barclay's New York Cup, and the last club-friendly for the Red Bulls was London's Arsenal club came over on the final professional season of Thierry Henry's career and the lone goal was scored by Ian Wright's son Bradley Wright-Phillips.
We can't forget that magical night at Red Bull Arena where the academy kids & Red Bull II players managed by John Wolyniec down a goal and scored four against Jose Mourinho's Chelsea at the International Champions Cup. Sean Davis scored a brace and Tyler Adams converted his goal as a 16-year-old in 2015
It will be a fun night at Red Bull Arena as another big club from Europe will be making the trek to the States and taking on the Red Bulls in a highlight friendly.
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