The 2025 Gamper Trophy afforded Cesc Fabregas, Sergi Roberto and Alex Valle the chance to return to Barcelona, and the hosts paid the Italian side appropriate respect by fielding a strong side from the start.
Robert Lewandowski’s absence allowed Marcus Rashford to make his debut in a competitive match for the Blaugranes, whilst Inigo Martinez’s surprise move meant a berth needed to be filled in central defence.
On the night, Hansi Flick utilised Ronald Araujo in the position.
The match itself was a walk in the park for the Catalans, so let’s take a look at three things of note from the traditional curtain raiser.
Photo by Koji Watanabe/Getty Images
Although you couldn’t necessarily class Fermin Lopez as underrated, the youngster certainly deserved a more permanent employment in Barca’s midfield last season.
Fortunately for Flick, not so for Fermin, the plethora of talent the German has in that area of the squad meant there simply wasn’t room.
Once again in Sunday’s game we saw the very best that the player has to offer.
Tigerish in the tackle, a work rate that will have put a handful of team-mates to shame, two great goals and just a general all-round ethic that helped to drive the team forward at every opportunity.
Barca surely can’t countenance accepting any late transfer bids for his services.
Comfortable night for the defence
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Although the Gamper is nothing more than a glorified pre-season friendly, designed to bring in supporters from far and wide that otherwise may not be able to get their hands on a match ticket, Como won’t have wanted to have gone the way of 11 of the last 12 opponents.
Last season, Monaco were the first since 2012 to walk away with the trophy and a reasonable Como team may have been expected to put up more of a fight than they did.
Certainly, Barca’s back line can rarely have had such an easy night’s work, even if the Serie A side had quite a bit more attacking possession in the second half.
There was no real consistent pressure on their wing-backs which meant that both Eric Garcia and Alejandro Balde in the first-half and Jules Kounde, Gerard Martin and Balde in the second, could be found supplementing the attack more often than not.
If the Italians did manage to penetrate the high line, their finishing wasn’t up to much and was typified by Assane Diao’s wasteful finish right at the end of the game.
Lamine picks up where he left off
BARCELONA, SPAIN – AUGUST 10: Lamine Yamal of FC Barcelona celebrates scoring his team’s fifth goal during the Joan Gamper Trophy match between FC Barcelona and Como1907 at Estadi Johan Cruyff on August 10, 2025 in Barcelona, Spain. (Photo by Alex Caparros/Getty Images) Getty Images
Is there ever going to be a game that isn’t the Lamine Yamal show?!
The 18-year-old’s full repertoire was on display throughout, whether it be turning his direct marker inside out, beating them at pace with the faintest of body swerves, passing through impossibly tight spaces and scoring sensational goals.
It’s getting more and more difficult not to get excited by – and let’s call him what he is – such a generational talent, and one can only imagine how brightly his star will shine in 2025/26 if Sunday’s performance is anything to go by.
Everything comes so naturally to Lamine and by giving him the space in which to operate, Como were their own worst enemies.