Barcelona vs. LA Galaxy: Lessons Learned from International Champions Cup

Barcelona got their summer up and running with a 2-1 win over LA Galaxy at the Rose Bowl in the International Champions Cup.

The Spanish Liga side dominated proceedings from kick-off, and the only surprise was that the breakthrough came just a minute before half-time, with Luis Suarez hitting the opener. Sergi Roberto smashed in the second before Tommy Meyer hit a late consolation from a corner for Galaxy.

For the European side, with it being so early in the season, and for LA midway through a campaign with several names missing, it's tough to make any reasonable sweeping statements—but we can take several pointers from the game which Luis Enrique and Bruce Arena can work with.

One Touch and Ready to Go

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About three minutes into the match, you could be forgiven for thinking this was a rerun of the Champions League final, not Barcelona's first summer game, such was the tempo and accuracy of their passing.

The Catalan side were immediately into their groove, moving the opposition all over the park to create space, make their angles and pass through. A number of stretches and late slides were required to prevent Luis Suarez being given early chances, and the pressure eventually showed—at the other end, Jordi Masip was extremely underemployed.

Most teams this summer have taken a couple of games to look remotely fit or sharp in possession; Barcelona look exactly as they did at the end of May.

Rafinha, Sergi Samper, Sergi Roberto

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Luis Enrique would have been pleased to see a few individual standouts for Barcelona, with a number of youthful candidates hoping to impress in the post-Xavi Hernandez era.

Rafinha played in an advanced role and at times seemed to be the team's lead creator, full of running and inventive movement to link with Ivan Rakitic and Luis Suarez and not afraid to get in a few shots himself from the edge of the box.

In deeper areas, Sergi Roberto enjoyed a fine first half, which was admittedly aided by a total lack of pressure as Galaxy sat deep, before Sergi Samper came on at the break and looked every inch the composed, talented and visionary midfielder he promises to be.

Again, the caveat has to be the deep lines of LA's midfield, but Samper is an outrageously talented young player, and it would be shocking if he didn't begin to significantly break through this season.

ICC Draws the Teams Fans Want to Watch

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Pre-season or not, pitching the top teams from different continents against each other continues to draw big crowds that want a rare chance to see the top players in action.

Per Adam Serrano on Twitter, the crowd of over 93,000 inside the Rose Bowl was the "highest attended game in the United States involving a team from MLS," and even if many of them had come because Barcelona were the opposition, there was no shortage of Galaxy support when they attacked.

With the likes of Real Madrid, Manchester United and Bayern Munich also involved, MLS and Australian A-League sides are guaranteed a real test of their tactics against some of the world's very top sides. Per Sierra Godfrey on Twitter, Bruce Arena believed his second-string team did well in the second half "given their age," though noted that the likes of Robbie Keane and Steven Gerrard didn't exactly need the experience.

In the meantime, the European teams of course benefit commercially as well as with football preparations for the new season. It's an obvious and important step to have taken around the global game with few downsides.

Lots to Do for Young Barcelona Forwards to Break Through

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Since Pedro really broke through into the Barcelona side back in 2009, there has been a slightly worrying dearth of top-tier talent able to make the graduation from La Masia to Camp Nou on a regular basis.

From the likes of Bojan Krkic and Isaac Cuenca, through Cristian Tello, Gerard Deulofeu and now Munir and Sandro Ramirez, none have (yet, in the case of the latter two) had that absolute standout ability, which makes them capable of breaking into a team which has some of the best forwards in world football.

Munir had a brief flurry early last season, over-hyped and too early by far to make a sustained run, while Sandro has not shown the individual movement or technique to even remotely trouble Luis Suarez as an option through the centre. With Arda Turan's arrival, places will be even harder to come by for these starlets.

Loan time away seems almost inevitable given Barcelona B's relegation, but if they hang around with the seniors they certainly need to do much more to give Luis Enrique serious thoughts about including them more often.

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