Two months after meeting at Wembley, FC Barcelona and Manchester United meet again, this time on the Fedex Field, Washington in the early hours of Sunday morning in Europe (1.00, CET). But this will be a very different game to the one on May 28 in London, as José Manuel Pinto said to the press after Friday’s training session.

No revenge

The goalkeeper said the game with the Red Devils “is not about revenge. I’d say it will be a nice game”. Pinto explained that his team is only just beginning its preseason preparations and these matches “are about nothing more than improving and getting into our rhythm”.

The main objective is “to get ourselves up to 100 percent for the start of the season” but that “nobody can beat us through desire alone.”

Wonderful youth structure

It is telling that no fewer than nine reserve players are with the first team in the United States. Pinto described these youngsters as “wonderful” and congratulated them on all that they are achieving. In the youth teams “they have learned well” and that makes it so much easier for them to adapt to football at the highest level.