At 1:00 a.m. Beijing time on December 15, the Maradona Cup commemorative match was played in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, by Barcelona against Argentine giants Boca Juniors. In the first half, neither team achieved anything; in the second half, Hutegra broke the deadlock and Zeballos equalized. After 90 minutes, the two sides drew 1-1. In the penalty shootout, Mateus Pereira and Gilliam Jaime lost successively. In the end, Boca Juniors beat Barca 5-3 on aggregate to win the Maradona Cup.
On November 25 last year, "Ball King" Maradona suddenly suffered a cardiac arrest and unfortunately passed away at the age of 60. This year, barca and Boca, the two old clubs of Maradona, fought in the commemorative match. In this campaign, Barca vice-chairman Eust, Boca youth executives and the family of the king of the ball were also invited to the scene to watch the game.
Before the game, Barca coach Xavi said: "This is our glory, we will show the best state and show the best side." But he clearly overestimated the state of his players and underestimated Boca's desire to win. What's more, Barca sent a training squad based on the young players of the B team, and Boca responded with the full main force.
In the three matches that have been played this month, Barca have not won one and suffered the humiliation of being out of the Champions League; Boca has won the Argentine Cup title that has been waiting for 6 years.
Back in the game, in the 51st minute, Alves crossed from the right, Coutinho headed the ball in front of the defender, Hutegra turned and cut inside to shoot! Barca lead 1-0!
In the 77th minute, Boca counter-attacked at high speed, Fabra crossed a low cross from the left into the box, and Zeballos followed up with a low shot into the net! 1-1, Boca equalised!
The regular time battle ended, and the two teams shook hands 1-1. The match went into a penalty shootout, with two Barca B players, Mateus Pereira and Gilliam Jaime, losing the 3rd and 4th rounds respectively, and as Boca midfielder Molinas made it to 5-3 to beat Barca 5-3 to win the Maradona Cup, which was also their second time in 6 days.
Obviously, Xavi's return will not allow Barca to change their fate in a short period of time, although the legend promised after the end of the Champions League that he would lead the team back to the top in a year, alongside Bayern, but it turned out that Barca's road to rebuild was long and difficult.