Barcelona and Manchester An entertaining 3-3 friendly match at Camp Nou on Wednesday drew in a match set up to raise awareness and funds for research into amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS).
More than 90,000 spectators attended the match and gave a warm welcome to the club’s former goalkeeper and assistant coach Juan Carlos Anzue, who was diagnosed with progressive neurodegenerative disease two years ago.
Onzue won the Champions League, two La Liga titles and one Copa del Rey as assistant coach to Luis Enrique in Barcelona Before joining Girona as head coach in 2020.
He spent the entire match on Wednesday sitting in his wheelchair alongside Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez, as Honorary Coach.
With both teams resting several high-profile players, City took an early lead through 22-year-old Argentine striker Julian Alvarez after a foul by Barcelona goalkeeper Inaki Pena.
In his likely last game for Barcelona before moving to Chelsea, Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalized in the 29th minute from a rebound. Frenkie de Jong put Barcelona ahead in the 66th minute, but Cole Palmer equalized the English champions four minutes later.
Substitute Memphis Depay gave Barcelona the lead again with a shot from inside the penalty area after a wonderful counter-attack led by Sergi Roberto. In stoppage time, City’s substitute Erling Haaland stumbled inside the area and Riyad Mahrez equalized from the penalty spot.
Depay and De Jong could be on their way out of Barcelona as the club works to comply with La Liga Financial Fair Play (FFP) rules to sign new player Jules Conde, who has played from the start against City.
The match was stopped for several minutes so that 18-year-old City defender Luke Mbeti could receive medical attention after receiving a blow to the head in a confrontation with Andreas Christensen.
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