Barca beat America 2-0 in friendly match

07 August 2011 00:30

David Villa's first-half header and Seydou Keita's 89th-minute strike lifted European champions Barcelona to a 2-0 victory over Mexico's Club America in a friendly football match on Saturday.

Villa scored in his second straight match with his 24th-minute header and Keita tapped in from close range as Barcelona finished their three-match North American tour with a victory after falling 2-1 to Manchester United and 4-1 to Mexican club Chivas of Guadalajara.

After those defeats, Barcelona coach Pep Guardiola fielded all of his available starters, although the Spanish giants are without two-time FIFA Player of the Year Lionel Messi as well as Daniel Alves, Javier Mascherano and Alexis Sanchez for the tour.

The match drew more than 60,000 spectators to the billion-dollar Cowboys Stadium, home of the Dallas NFL franchise.

Barcelona demonstrated their usual control of possession, creating several early scoring opportunities that didn't bear fruit before Adriano beat America left back Oscar Rojas and delivered a cross to Villa, who dropped his marker and headed home.

Keita doubled the score in the waning stages after second-half substitute Gerard Deulofue made a run down the left flank and sent a cross that Keita slotted home.

The victory lets Barcelona end their tour on a positive note, providing a boost as the gear up for next weekend's Super Cup clash with arch-rivals Real Madrid in their first competitive match of the season.

America return to Mexican league play on Saturday.

Source: AFP