MATCH REPORT: Dembélé nets brace as FC Barcelona and Juventus draw in Big D

DALLAS, Texas — FC Barcelona’s Ousmane Dembélé and Juventus’s Moise Kean each scored twice in a 17-minute span as the Catalan and Italian giants played to a 2-2 stalemate on Tuesday night in front of 58,127 spectators at the Cotton Bowl.

The draw kept Barça undefeated in the 2022 preseason, and comes on the heels of a 1-0 win over arch rivals Real Madrid on Saturday night in Las Vegas. 

The Catalans now head to New York for their final fixture of this summer’s tour in the United States. Barça face the New York Red Bulls on July 30th before returning to Barcelona.

Against Juventus, blaugrana manager Xavi Hernández made good on his pregame promise to shuffle the lineup. Star players Pedri and Ronald Araujo were given the day off and did not dress. 

Meanwhile, Dembélé started and accounted for both goals, proving that Xavi’s bet on the Frenchman as a key player to be renewed and a major pillar of the Barça attack was not in vain.

Dembélé opened the scoring in the 34th with a scintillating run — weaving his way through the box and sidestepping three Juve defenders along the way — before taking a low, right-footed shot from an acute angle to find the net inside the far post. Sergiño Dest racked up the assist. 

But Juventus leveled the score five minutes later when Kean took a pass from Juan Cuadrado and beat Marc ter Stegen from close range.

Just one minute after that, in the 40th, Dembélé snatched the lead right back for Barça with another sparkling play. Again working the right wing, the Frenchman got tangled up with Cuadrado in the box and, after a brief hiccup, retook possession, cut to his left to evade two more Juve players, and fired with his left foot back across the goalmouth, beating Wojciech Szczęsny. 

Leading 2-1 at halftime, Xavi made multiple changes to keep his side fresh in the suffocating Texas heat. 

After the break, Kean needed only six minutes to once again tie the game for Juventus after he took a pass from Manuel Locatelli and beat Barça keeper Iñaki Peña.

The goal capped a 17-minute stretch of the game in which all four goals were scored. 

In the 68th and 69th, Raphinha and Ansu Fati had back-to-back chances to give Barça their third lead of the game but both attempts caromed off the woodwork.

Barça had 60% possession throughout the 90 minutes, and outshot La Vecchia Signora 17-6, with nine on target. But for all the statistical advantages, the Culers were unable to put the game away after going up twice on the scoreboard.