Train the Barca Way

Following their star-studded appearance at NIKETOWN, FC Barcelona took off for Toyota Park for an early evening training session, open to the public! The atmosphere was electric on the football pitch. Thousands of fans showed up to fill the stands, while the fabled FC Barcelona team trained for two hours. These guys are some of the greatest players in the sport today and it was great to see how they performed in training.

They may be on a U.S. tour, but it’s no vacation. Their season begins in a few weeks and coach Pere Guardiola has his new-look squad working hard to get match-sharp for a run at La Liga and Champions League. A light warm-up started things off, which quickly turned into a serious string of drills, scrimmages and match-like situations for the players to go through. The Barcelona squad shared laughs and smiles in the break, but don’t let that fool you, when the ball came into play it was intense. Hard tackles, deft touches and fluid passing was the only way for any player to survive out on the training pitch.

These teammates expect the best of one another and demand even better. It was a pleasure to watch Puyol and Marquez direct from the back and Iniesta roam the middle like a true maestro. Meanwhile, Bojan has taken his game to yet another level and it looks like the 08-09 season for Barcelona is full of potential. As the training came to a close and the sun hid behind the stadium seats, Barcelona left the pitch spent but satisfied, and they do this twice a day. That’s what it takes to make it to that level and that’s the work ethic that took Barcelona to a 5-2 win over Chivas Guadalajara on Sunday!

Barca will be looking to build upon this success when they take on the New York Red Bulls at Giants Stadium on Wednesday.