Forget the fact it was a pre-season friendly and that one of the world’s great club sides were under-strength.
It was a memorable night at St. Andrew’s as Blues drew 2-2 against Barcelona (and went on to ‘win’ 3-2 in a penalty shoot-out) in front of the biggest crowd since the lower tiers on the Kop and Tilton Road were redone – 28,366.
Blues thus go into the season proper on a little bit of a high, albeit everyone knows there is still work to be done on the squad, not least Chris Davies.
For Barcelona, it was only the second friendly of their warm-up schedule and whilst we didn’t get to see any of their World Cup winning roster, plus the likes of Anthony Gordon, nonetheless it was an absorbing game and competitive.
Blues took the lead through a smart August Priske downward header in the first-half and looked to be going in at the break ahead, a good value for it.
But Hamza Abdelkarim was fouled as he nipped past Christoph Klarer on his blind side and took the resulting plenty with aplomb, in the 42nd minute.
Barcelona made four changes at the interval, Blues none, and enjoyed more possession. They were more proactive in the second-half after struggling with Blues forthright manner in the opening period.
Abdelkarim – the 18-year-old Egyptian starlet touted as Mo Salah’s heir apparent – got his and Barcelona’s second, stabbing the ball into the roof of the net after James Beadle spilled a shot.
Barcelona brought on seven substitutes three minutes later, Blues rallied, and forced an equaliser through Jhon Solis from a set-piece.
Davies emptied the Blues bench for the final 12 minutes – including Luis Vazquez for his first outing – not long after Alex Cochrane hit the crossbar with a scything shot.
There was drama at the end as Jack Robinson cleared off the line and Beadle made a fine double stop that ensured the match ended all-square and so we went . . . to penalties.
Beadle saved two spot-kicks and Jordi Pesquer’s attempt clipped the crossbar on the way into the Tilton; Scott Wright, Ethan Laird and Patrick Roberts scored for Blues (Vazquez’s kick was saved, as was Robinson’s).
So Klarer was handed the spoils in a low key presentation by match sponsor Steven Knight, in the form of a silver salver to commemorate the victory and a good night was had by all, for varying reasons.
Below, we address further a few talking points, and there’s only one place to start . . .
Jude Bellingham
He was like Marcus Aurelius surveying all before him in the Colosseum, feted and adored.
Well, he was in the director’s box in the Kop, with his mum, Denise, and dad, Mark either side of him and CEO Jeremy Dale in close attendance.
When St. Andrew’s got wind of the fact he was there, in person, watching, necks in the lower Kop turned and craned, a buzz went around the ground, the televisions cameras homed in.
No two ways about it, he has star quality. No, superstar quality. He has gone to a different plane, and has an aura (is that the right word, kids?) to match.
It was great to see him back.
‘He’s one of our own’ St. Andrew’s sang in the seventh minute and Jude got to his feet, waved and acknowledged. Hail, Caesar!
In the second-half, his plain white T-shirt was replaced by Blues new home jersey. Wow!
Whoever gave it to him and encouraged he wore it, well done. If he did it off his own volition, then outstanding.
You could imagine the bigwigs from new principal partners Coral passing out in their seats. What exposure.
You could imagine some Nike executives in Oregon having a smirk.
You could imagine all adidas executives in Bavaria going into meltdown; Jude, an adidas tier one athlete, face of the brand, wearing . . . well, that!
You could imagine all the Madridistas grinning widely as his Birmingham team stuck it to the Catalans, with him egging them on.
But this is what is great about Jude. No Fs given. He has a huge affinity with Blues. He loves the club. He saved the club. He will be back to play for the club before he is done. And if he wants to wear the shirt and support the lads out there on the pitch, and ham it up a bit, then he will.
As an aside, it was so good to see Jude in a happier frame of mind and relaxed with England during the World Cup. When he’s in that space, he’s all the better for it. And, by God, he was outer-worldly at times in the United States and Mexico. Like a machine.
But I digress. Jude’s appearance – and the late, rock star style entrance to his seat – stole the show when Barcelona rolled into town.
August Priske, James Beadle, Kanya Fujimoto
Priske has taken on the mantle of the number 9 shirt and is adorning it nicely. He got his fourth goal of pre-season with a smart header, outjumping defender Jofre Torrents with expert timing.
Priske was up against an experienced figure in Andreas Christensen, Barcelona’s captain on the night, and was an effective leader of the line. Always on the go, Priske got in behind a couple of times and showed his speed and mobility – he’s not simply a limited lamp post of a striker.
His six-month experience at Blues and of the Championship after his signing in January will stand him in good stead. He looks more in tune with Davies wants as well as sharper and stronger. Encouraging.
I have said it before on these pages that I ‘get’ the Beadle capture on loan for a second successive season from Brighton & Hove Albion.
The spend required on an established, experienced ‘keeper would have knocked too big a hole in the summer budget and restricted what Davies could – and still wants to – do.
Beadle didn’t have much to cope with until the second-half and blotted his copybook on Barcelona’s second goal as, down on one knee to stop Roony Bardghji fizzing drive, it smacked off his upper chest and Abdelkarim reacted quickly to force in the rebound.
Beadle’s response was good and showed a sturdy mentality. In added-time he executed a double save – like we saw a few times last season – that were significant.
In the penalty shoot-out, his size and agility came to the fore. The save from Barcelona’s second kick, taken by Bardghji, was a really good low down stretch to his left.
Blues mix of styles helped Beadle as well. They no longer build from as deep as the first versions of Davies’ teams did. Beadle can go long and hit specific areas, rather than have the pressure to play and also receive the kind of hot potatoes he got during that infamous Middlesbrough game.
One, long sidewinder of a kick from his hands in the 28th minute launched an immediate attack and had Wojciech Szczesny darting well out of his area to head the danger away from Priske, who was in a foot race with the only two covering defenders. This showed how Blues have changed and also that Beadle has got range and can be effective off his boot.
As for Kanya, I am not really certain where he goes from here, other than probably through the exit door eventually. For sure, he is a tidy, compact player. And a good character by all accounts.
But, apart from one pass to Priske from wide after a Barcelona move broke down, he was peripheral. You want a player in the number 10 role to be on the ball, to be making things happen and tick. I get he was disciplined and worked tirelessly as required in terms of the overall team shape, in and out of possession.
But he was a non-factor. There’s no dynamism there and whether this was a final audition granted by Davies, I don’t know. But I’d be surprised if he started the opening game.
Set-pieces
This was the first real glimpse for many of the routines devised by set-piece coach Scott Fry as Blues fine-tuned before next Saturday and it provided fascinating insight.
The goal that made it 2-2 from Solis came from a free-kick (although, in truth, Barcelona’s marking left much to be desired). Forever Blues will delve into the findings from this subject in a separate piece.
Barcelona – the revenge
Well, it took 66 years for Blues to defeat (on penalties) Barcelona, to make up for the loss in the Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final.
The first leg of that 1960 showdown was a 0-0 stalemate, slugged out on a raid-sodden pitch – such a contrast to Friday night. Blues lost the return 4-1.
In the post-match press conference, Davies was asked about Blues aspirations to get onto the world stage and play Barca regularly, and not in such glamour friendlies. You know, the Knighthead ‘project’ and all that. And how many years would it take to get there?
The question took my mind back to when Carson Yeung arrived as Blues new owner and namechecked Barcelona as the kind of club Blues would be rubbing shoulders with.
Davies showed he had done his historical research as he rattled through details of the previous meeting (although he did chalk off Harry Hooper’s goal in the Camp Nou).
“Hopefully it’s less than 66 years,” said Davies with a little smile. “That is amazing, really. I was speaking to someone earlier about those games. And there was another (Inter-Cities Fairs Cup Final), Roma, was it?
“There is obviously history there. Barcelona are one of the biggest clubs on the planet so, one day – we competed with them in a game like this – but one day, the dream is you get to the levels where you can compete with them in European competition. But that’s a long way off. Swansea away next for us – that’s what I’m concentrating on.”
Davies said that the performance and result was nonetheless heartening.
“I said to the players before the game in the last couple of years since I’ve been here, you can count on one hand the games we have lost (at home). And a few of those were to Premier League teams in cup competitions.
“It is a fortress here at St. Andrew’s and I wanted them to go after the game. They feel good here, they feel confident here. They have got a good connection with the fans in the stadium.
“I was just pleased we went about it in our normal way. I would rather we did that and got well beat, rather than just try to hang on and do something completely different.
“We tried to be very proactive, in terms of our tactical game, and that was pleasing.
“We won’t let anyone get carried away with this type of game because there’s a few caveats there. We are a few weeks ahead of them as well, physically. But it was a great occasion, definitely, for us as a club.”
Davies added: “I just wanted the players to be aggressive, be brave and be a team. We looking like a team that’s building something. We had a lot of that in there.”
