The entire premise of the ongoing preseason tour for FC Barcelona revolves around a few key advantages. These specific benefits are the primary reason as to why the trip to the United States of America was important for the club. While it does not guarantee Barcelona any official silverware, it does help them sort other things out.
In terms of financial benefits, the preseason tour will be a major boost. It will provide some much-needed funds to the Catalan giants but it will also aid them in a sporting sense as well as in terms of marketing benefits. Given how massive and profitable the US market is, Barça gets a chance to expand their brand as a result of their tour and any promotional events they do alongside it.
However, when it comes to sporting benefits, this tour allows Barcelona to test out their fringe players and also many aspiring youngsters. Certain stars like Pau Victor and Pablo Torre have already excelled in this regard and have undoubtedly managed to impress Hansi Flick.
A new name has also appeared, however, and that name belongs to Alex Valle. The 20-year-old left-back developed and promoted through La Masia and the Barcelona youth academy finally got a chance to showcase the best of his abilities against the ideal rival, Real Madrid.
While much of the praise will understandably go towards Pau Victor for his brace in the 2-1 victory for Barcelona, it is equally important to give Valle his flowers too for his contributions throughout the game. These contributions also include a direct influence in both of the goals that Barça managed to score.
According to the statistics and data compiled by Sofascore, the Spanish left-back played 65 minutes in total across the game while being deployed on the right-back, which is not exactly his preferred flank to play on, to begin with. Despite that possible handicap, Valle made the most of his opportunity.
The player completed 30 of the 34 passes that he attempted, maintaining an 88% success rate with them. Two of those passes ended up resulting in goals for FC Barcelona. The first was a well-placed cross towards Robert Lewandowski, who simply had to tap it across to Pau Victor to break the deadlock.
Then came the second pass that led to a goal, and this one was a direct assist that came as a result of Valle’s exquisite trivela pass that Pau Victor converted. Despite not playing on his ideal flank, the 20-year-old Spanish fullback managed to create a lot of problems for Real Madrid from the right flank.
Moreover, even apart from his offensive contributions, the fullback made a lot of defensive efforts as well. In terms of duels, he won the most with his 7 duels won and he also completed 5 tackles, the most in the game. This is even further complemented by his overall reading of the game, making key interceptions and clearances when needed.
Even as Alejandro Balde looks set to be Barça’s starting left-back, he will need to remain as aware as possible of Valle’s threat to his position. With each passing day, it is becoming more and more clear that each and every player will have to fight for their spot in the team.
