Barcelona v Seoul seen
The visit of Barcelona to FC Seoul owes a lot to a fried chicken franchise, according to a report describing the delicacy as “the most Korean of institutions”.
Barça joins the giants of the Premier League Tottenham and Newcastle in Seoul this week, the Korea Jongang Daily saying that the sponsors had even taken care of the tourist bus of the Spanish champions.
“In the Korean context, this is perfectly logical,” said the report, painting an image that many fans around the world could approve. “For the majority of Koreans, football is better appreciated with fried chicken and beer.”
Seoul is fourth in high flight of the K League 1 and invited Barcelona to become their first international visitors in 11 years in their Seoul World Cup stadium, which has a capacity of almost 67,000.
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The former striker of England Jesse Lingard is their best known player in Europe, contributing 13 goals and six assists in 51 games since the signing in February 2024 in a move considered by many to be the most prominent signature ever made by a Korean club.
Hansi Flick players landed in the South Korean capital on Tuesday and trained at the Goyang stadium, about 15 minutes from the World Cup stadium, at temperatures over 40 degrees.
They come from Japan, where the late goals of the new 19-year signature by Roony Bardghji and his compatriot replacing Pedro Fernandez, who was 17, won a 3-1 victory in Vissel Kobe.
The five European champions go to the city of Daegu, which is nearly 200 miles south of Seoul, to face the 2018 Korean Cup winners on Monday (12:00 pm BST / 07:00 and / 04:00 pt).
Barcelona V FC Seoul Team News
The goalkeeper Joan Garcia, the back left Jofre Torrents and the striker Marcus Rashford joined Bardghji and Fernandez to make their debut in Barcelona against Kobe.
The goalkeeper Marc Ter Stegen has undergone more surgery on the problems of the lower back and Marc Bernal is waiting for the little light in the recovery of the midfielder from a long -term injury to the knee.
Eric Garcia, who scored the first goal of Barça de Pré-season against Kobe, returned to full training after spending a session to work individually due to a muscle problem.
Flick could bring some of the main names that started on the Kobe bench, including Ronald Araujo, Rashford, Robert Lewandowski, Dani Olmo, Frenkie de Jong, Jules Kounde – who says he is about to report a contract extension until 2020 – and Wojciech Szczesny.
Lamimine Yamal could start again. “It’s an exceptional talent,” said Flick. “He is incredible and can decide on matches.
“Of course, he will play. We all want to give our best and play our highest level here in South Korea, in Seoul. ”
Rashford and Lingard are both Manchester United Academy products and have played 152 games together for the club and England, winning the 2015/16 FA Cup and the 2016/17 EFL Cup and the Europa League, as well as the three Lions to reach the 2018 FIFA World Cup.
Seoul has signed Jeong Tae-Wook on loan from Jeonbuk Hyundai Motors. The central rear capitalized on South Korea in the quarter -final at the 2020 Olympic Games.
The young people in South Korea Cheon Seong-Hoon also joined the former Red Bulls striker in New York and Poland Patryk Klimala as part of what Seoul calls an attempt to make their attack “a little more clear and more incisive”.
The Brazilian Anderson Oliveira will aim to help them in this ambition, having arrived from Suwon after being appointed to the best XI of Ligue 1 of the KE 2024.
Anderson played on the right wing during his beginnings on July 20, when the solitary striker Jesse Lingard scored the only goal of the distance match before the break of the Club World Cup also-rans Ulsan.
“He is silent and has a feeling of [presence]”Said director Kim Gi-dong about Anderson, via Chosun.” He is not kidding and does not diligently work.
“I believe that, whatever the position, a right winger will be more comfortable for him in my system.”
Kim Gi-Dong was under pressure from the fans at the end of last season and Seoul was unevenly in good shape, the last consecutive winning championship games in March and prevailing in three of their last nine games.
Lingard also scored the winner in his last match, marking a penalty in a 1-0 victory in Daejeon Hana on Sunday.
Barcelona V Seoul
Barcelona starting XI: Sours; Araujo, Martinez, Christians, Kounde; OLM, from Jong; Bardghji, Yamal, Rashford; Lewandowksi
Seoul Start XI: Kang Hyun-Moo; Kim Jin-Su, Kim Jin-Sung, Yazan, Choi Jun; Anderson, Seon-Min; Klimala, Lingard
Barcelona V FC Seoul on television? Live stream, television channel
The kick -off is at 12:00 pm BST / 07:00 and / 04:00 PT Thursday. The two remaining matches of Barcelona of their Asian tour will be free to broadcast on their YouTube channel.
Barcelona V Seoul Statistics
- Barcelona made seven unbeaten pre-season friendly games far from their hometown in 90 minutes, since a 5-3 defeat against Arsenal in Inglewood on July 26, 2023.
- Their last defeat outside in Spain took place on November 10 (1-0 in Real Sociedad), although they lost their last two on the road in the Champions League, 4-3 in Inter Milan in the semi-finals on May 6 and 3-1 in Borussia Dortmund on April 15.
- Including the friendly matches, six of the last seven games of Barçon in Barcelona scored more than two goals, and they scored in the second period in each of the last six games of this type.
- Rashford could become the first English player to start a Barcelona match since Gary Lineker against Real Zaragoza on June 20, 1987.
- Forty-three years after their training, Seoul’s victory against Dajeon Hana made it the third Korean club to win 500 games in the upper division, after Ulsan (who now has 554 victories) and Pohang (540).
- Five of the last seven seoul games in all competitions contained less than three goals, although two contained five each.
- Seoul scored the third plus of K League 1 goals (27) and conceded the second plus (23), only the Jeonbuk leaders improving their defensive record.
- Lingard has scored three goals and two assists during his last five departures in all competitions.
Barcelona in FC Seoul prediction
Seoul’s investment in their forward line should give a Barcelona test like Kobe, where they were returned for 35 minutes after Pau Cubarsi’s error.
The intense heat in which they worked could have a draining effect, but the difference in quality between the squads could lead to a 4-2 victory for visitors.
Barcelona Pre-seation Fixes 2025/26
July 31: Seoul (a), 12:00 / 07:00 and / 04:00 pt
August 4: DAEGU (A), 12:00 BST / 07:00 and / 04:00 pt
August 10: Como (Johan Cruyff Stadium), 8:00 p.m. BST / 15:00 and / 12:00 PT
When does the Barcelona 2025/26 season start in Laliga?
Barça started its season in Mallorca, which finished 10th last season, Saturday August 16 at 4:30 p.m. BST.
We expect them to play at least their first three championship games from the outdoor season while work on their Camp Nou stadium is over, which means that they will not play a home match before mid-September at the earliest.
The first episode of El Classico in 2025/26 will be on Matchweek 10 at the end of October, when Barça goes to Real Madrid.
