BARCELONA stumbled to an embarrassing defeat in a baffling mid-season friendly against Mexican side Club America.
The Spanish giants were paid a whopping £4.3million to go and play in Dallas, Texas with the fixture coming just 30 hours after a LaLiga game.
After making a quick hop across the Atlantic, Barcelona lost 3-2 against the Liga MX champions at the Cotton Bowl.
Just a day before the Catalan giants were busy beating Almeria 3-2.
Manager Xavi let slip the reason why his short-of-cash side agreed to play the friendly fixture, revealing the club were being paid £4.3million to take part.
Due to their hectic schedule, Xavi heavily rotated his team against Club America – with six teenagers in the starting XI.
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Barcelona’s 16-year-old wonderkid Lamine Yamal struck the back of the net to open the scoring.
But Club America did not take long to find their feet as Mexican international Julian Quinones backheeled the ball into the net six minutes later.
Hector Fort’s cross was then successfully shot between the sticks by fellow academy star 17-year-old Marc Guiu for Barca to regain the lead.
But after half-time, things took a turn for the worse as Quinones had one more strike to equalise the game.
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And Barca’s misery was complete when an 82nd-minute goal from Henry Martin stripped Xavi’s side of a victory.
The Spanish side will not now return to LaLiga action until January 4 against Las Palmas.
Currently in third spot, seven points behind Girona and frontrunners Real Madrid, Barcelona have some catching up to do in the new year if they want to be in the running for the league title.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
