FC Barcelona have landed in Dallas. Xavi Hernández and his team will be playing this Thursday (3am Friday morning CET) in a friendly against Mexican club Club América at the Cotton Bowl Stadium, in what will be the final game of 2023, to be officiated by Elton Garcia of the United States.
The team touched down in Dallas at 5.30am local time this Thursday (12.30pm CET) following a flight of about 11 hours, and were welcomed by a group of fans who had made their way to the airport bright and early to welcome their heroes. Under clear skies and a temperature of around 14ºC, the team then headed straight to their hotel to get some rest.
Xavi has taken a large group of 27 players on the trip: João Cancelo, Balde, Ferran, Lewandowski, Raphinha, Iñaki Peña, João Félix, Christensen, Romeu, S. Roberto, F. De Jong, Gündoğan, Kounde, Astralaga, Lamine Yamal, Alarcón, M. Casadó, Kochen, Fermín, Cubarsí, Unai, Marc Guiu, H. Fort, Gerard Martín, Mikayil, Mbacke and Pau Prim.
The injured Pedri, Ter Stegen, Gavi, Marcos Alonso and Iñigo Martínez all stayed at home, as did Ronald Araujo who needs tests on his hurt jawbone, the reason why he’s been wearing a mask in recent matches.
FC Barcelona are returning to Dallas just seven months after they were last in the city for a friendly against Real Madrid, which they won 3-0 at the AT&T Stadium.
Barça’s opponents, Club América, have just won the 2023 Liga MX Opening Tournament, beating Tigres 4-1 in the final. Their squad includes former Barça man Jonathan dos Santos. “He’s an excellent person and I have a great relationship with him” said Xavi speaking just after his team had beaten Almería 3-2 in the league. “In fact, I wanted to sign Dos Santos to Al Sadd. I don’t think he succeeded at Barça because there were some top players in that 2010 team and a lot of competition for places. But he is clearly a top class player.”
