Ibrahimovic & Barcelona Head To The United States As Hectic Season Begins

Barcelona may still be in pre-season mode but their demanding schedule for the upcoming campaign begins tomorrow, after flying out to the United States for their tour.

Included in the convoy is their latest superstar recruit, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who has opted to join the squad to assimilate with his new team-mates despite being ruled out of any match action following his hand operation.

And according to Sport, an estimated 160 personnel, including 26 players and all their big guns, 10 executives and president Joan Laporta, made the trip.

Their first match will be in Los Angeles on August 1, 20:00 local time, against LA Galaxy, before they take on Seattle Sounders on August 5 and Chivas three days later. In between games, the Blaugrana will attend three promotional events: one for Nike and one for the ‘Malaria No More’ campaign in association with UNICEF, and they will also visit the new Microsoft headquarters.

‘El Tricampeon’ will return to Barcelona on August 9 and will play their first competitive game of the season a week later against Athletic Bilbao at the San Mames in the first leg of the Spanish Supercopa.

On the 19th, they will entertain England’s bid spenders, Manchester City, in the Joan Gamper Trophy, a match in which Ibrahimovic is expected to make his debut. They will then welcome Athletic to the Camp Nou for the return leg of the Supercopa, and if all goes as planned, ‘Ibra’ could take his place in the starting XI for the first time.

Barca will aim for the second of a possible six trophies on August 28 when they face-off with Shakhtar Donetsk in the UEFA Super Cup. Three days later, they kick-off the defence of their Primera Division title at home against Sporting Gijon.

All in all, Pep Guardiola’s side will have eight matches to play in the month of August.  

KS Leong, Goal.com

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