Barça 3-3 Manchester City: Charity goals galore

Winning a football match is normally the only objective, but the target for today’s FC Barcelona v Manchester City match was to raise as many funds as possible for the fight against ALS, aided in no small part by the crowd of 91,062 who were treated to an entertaining game at the Spotify Camp Nou.

Both Xavi and Pep Guardiola selected a mix of established names and youth players in their squads to befit the occasion, but a real star on show was the person behind this tremendous initiative, Juan Carlos Unzué, who gave a stirring speech on the pitch while accompanied by others with the incurable condition, ALS, before kicking off the game and taking up a spot next to Pep Guardiola to savour the match pitch side.

Barça start brightly

Barca, in their new third kit, began the game brightly with chances for Aubameyang, Kessie and Raphinha coming within the first six minutes. Barça were making all the running, with De Jong directing proceedings in particular, but it was Man City who struck first after 21 minutes, Álvarez scoring after an unfortunate mistake by Peña.

Man City continued to threaten, but with the Barça fans chanting, Raphinha swung over a free kick from the left on 29 minutes, Busquets flicked on and Aubameyang finished with a superb volleyed low drive from the right to make it 1-1, a fair score at half time.

Two goals apiece after the break

Both sides made changes at the break, as did Unzué who went to sit alongside Xavi for the second half. Soon after, Iñaki Peña made up for his earlier error by denying Julián Álvarez twice in quick succession, making further important saves as the half went on.

Good pressure from Barça led to a mistake by Man City in their box and a goal for De Jong after 66 minutes to make it 2-1, but Man City soon equalised with a classic passing move finished by Palmer on 70 minutes.

City keeper Ortega was out quick to snuff out the danger from a great pass by Gavi to Memphis, but he soon got his goal, finishing a cross from the right from Sergi Roberto to make it 3-2 after 79 minutes.

A clash of heads between Mbete and Christensen led to the City player being stretchered off late on, before a trip on Haaland after the restart saw a penalty awarded and cooly converted by Mahrez to make it 3-3 in added time.

All-in-all a great game for an even greater cause. Thank you Manchester City and everyone who made this such a special night in the fight against ALS.