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Mateo Kovacic was the architect of Jack Grealish's goal for Manchester City in their pre-season loss against Barcelona on Tuesday (July 30) in Orland. The two teams played out a 2-2 draw before the Catalan giants prevailed on penalties courtesy of two Inaki Pena saves.
It took 24 minutes for the match to have its first goal, and it came when Pau Victor scored with a sublime right-foot finish from inside the box. Nico O'Reilly, 19, leveled the scoreline 15 minutes later after he was found with a smart pass from Josko Gvardiol.
Pablo Torre then scored his team's second just before the half-time whistle to ensure Barca went into the break with the lead. Fifteen minutes into the second half, a brilliant run from Kovacic helped Pep Guardiola's side score the fourth and final goal of the match.
The counterattack started after Gvardiol intercepted a pass from Marc Casado and headed it down to his compatriot, Kovacic. The former Real Madrid midfielder received the ball on the edge of his team's box with his back facing Ederson's net.
Kovacic then made a quick turn and used his acceleration and ball control to leave four Barcelona players in his wake. He then chipped the ball between two Barca defenders to find Grealish, who executed a neat finish from a tight angle to score.
Watch the video below:
Neither of the two Croats or Grealish took a penalty in the shootout as they were substituted before the full-time whistle. Their team's next pre-season friendly will take place on Saturday (August 3) when they face Chelsea at the Ohio Stadium in Florida.
Manchester City's Jack Grealish opens up on omission from England Euro 2024 squad
Jack Grealish has said that being left out of England's UEFA Euro 2024 squad was the hardest thing he has had to deal with in his footballing career. He failed to make the 26-man squad that Gareth Southgate took to Germany, where they fell at the final hurdle in a 2-1 loss against Spain.
Grealish, 28, made his international debut in September 2020 after making waves at Aston Villa. He has been a trusted member of the Three Lions' squad since with 36 senior caps to his name, five of which came at the 2022 FIFA World Cup.
Speaking during his team's tour of the United States of America, Grealish said in a presser (via BBC):
"I felt I should have been in the [England] squad. I feel like I offer something different to players in the England squad. But it is what it is. As I said, it was the hardest moment for me as a footballer. I've had a lot of ups and downs in my career."
Grealish represented England at the UEFA Euros in the summer of 2021, where he featured in the final loss to Italy (1-1 A.E.T, 3-2 on pens). Nearly a month later, he left Aston Villa to join Manchester City in a £100 million deal.
Since then, Grealish has registered 14 goals and 18 assists in 125 appearances for the club and has three league titles and a UEFA Champions League trophy to his name.
