OneFootball
Dan Burke·16 May 2018
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Dan Burke·16 May 2018
Barcelona appeared to enjoy their end-of-season trip to South Africa when they beat Mamelodi Sundowns 3-1 on Wednesday evening.
Goals from Ousmane Dembélé, Luis Suárez and André Gomes gave Ernesto Valverde’s side the victory in front of thousands of fans at the showpiece friendly held at Soccer City.
Dembélé opened the scoring after just three minutes when he latched onto a loose ball and fired a super left-footed shot into the top corner.
The hosts were then denied an equaliser by a decent one-on-one save from Marc-André ter Stegen.
With 19 minutes on the clock, Suárez doubled the Blaugrana’s advantage.
And Ter Stegen then preserved his clean sheet with another excellent stop.
And another one.
33🔥: He does it again! đź‘Źđź‘Ź @mterstegen1 ! #SundownsBarça (0-2) pic.twitter.com/FBfCWjaMTR –Â
Denis Suárez almost made it 3-0, only to be denied by the woodwork.
But Gomes did then treble his side’s advantage with 66 minutes on the clock.
Lionel Messi was then introduced to a rapturous ovation with 73 minutes remaining.
73: Change for Barça! #Messi is on for Ruiz de Galarreta #SundownsBarça pic.twitter.com/g3sfPa89RN –Â
Sibusiso Vilakazi pulled a late consolation back for the hosts, but 3-1 was how it finished.