The Neymar narrative overshadows every other storyline in the meeting between Barcelona and Manchester United in Washington D.C. Neymar to Paris Saint-Germain, will he or won’t he, has become the transfer saga of sagas this summer. It could have ripple effects too, with Liverpool’s Philippe Coutinho potentially back in play, should Neymar bolt.
This, despite Liverpool’s repeated insistence that Coutinhho is not for sale.
-Here’s the link to the second half takeaways from this match.
-Barca started a very strong side, which included Neymar (and Messi and Suarez too).
Jheeez. Don't think Barcelona got the memo that it's a friendly game. ? pic.twitter.com/rUrTQygLuY
— Hesham Bilal-Hafiz (@hesham786) July 26, 2017
-Here’s the starting formation for United, in the usual 4-2-3-1:
https://twitter.com/utdxtra/status/890340286399995904
-Jesse Lingard is the only Manchester United player to start all five of the preseason friendlies this summer. If United win this contest, and they do it without having to go to penalty kicks, they will win the International Champions Cup. That’s because their ICC point total would reach eight and other side in the field have the chance to reach that total.
-Yes, it’s a tournament of sorts, even though there’s obviously no way you can actually call a preseason exhibition “a tournament.” If Mourinho says last year he won two and a half trophies, with the Community Shield being the half, then what would this be, “an eighth” of a trophy?
If Neymar is unsettled, you wouldn’t know it from how he looked tonight. He opened the scoring in this one; doing so in a filthy manner. And yes, when United fans first tuned into this one, they might have thought “why is there another Manchester Derby being played in less than a week? The sky blue Barca kits really made them look like City tonight.
https://twitter.com/WiLD_izoozoo/status/890362593721888768
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, partnered with FOX Sports Engage Network and News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV.
Follow him on Twitter, Instagram, Sound Cloud, LinkedIn and YouTube.