FC Barcelona win their first International Champions Cup with Neymar Jr as top scorer

FC Barcelona brought their US tour to an end on Sunday with a 3-2 win over Real Madrid. The victory means Valverde’s side clinched International Champions Cup for the first time following a clean sweep of three victories from three matches. Check out the best stats from the US tour here:

1. International Champions Cup champions for the first time. The blaugranas beat Juventus (1-2), Manchester United and Real Madrid (2-3) with some impressive performances.
2. Valverde used 24 of the 26 players called up for the three matches with Douglas and Ezkieta the only two players not to make it onto the pitch.
3. On top of the games, the blaugranas trained eight times across the twelve-day tour of the United States. Some of these workouts were on days in which the squad completed double sessions in New York, Washington and Miami in order to prepare for the upcoming season.
4. Six goals scored and three conceded in the International Champions Cup. The balance from the three games is positive with an average of two for and one against per match.
5. Ernesto Valverde is still unbeaten as FC Barcelona manager after three games.
6. Of the 270 minutes of action in the International Champions Cup, Cillessen played the most with 225 minutes, followed closely by Piqué, Rakitic, Sergio, Neymar Jr and Jordi Alba on 163 minutes.
7. Neymar Jr has starred on the tour across all three matches. His return of three goals from three games makes him the top scorer in this preseason.
8. There have been four goal scorers with Neymar Jr netting three and Messi, Rakitic and Piqué getting one apiece.
9. In Saturday’s Clásico, Cillessen saved 75% of the shots he faced. The goalkeeper’s six saves from eight shots confirms the Dutchman’s good form and it adds to his MVP performance in the match against Manchester United.
10. FC Barcelona register double the passes compared to Real Madrid. Ernesto Valverde’s side completed 634 passes while Real Madrid managed 375. Moreover, during the American tour, Barça always topped the passing statistics with the percentage of completed passes always above 83% (87% against Juventus, 84% against Manchester United and 86% against Real Madrid).