Shell-shocked Barcelona started their preparations for life without Lionel Messi in the best possible way when they thumped Cristiano Ronaldo's Juventus 3-0 on Sunday night. While anguished fans held up banners for the departed Argentine, <a href="https://www.thenationalnews.com/sport/football/2021/08/08/lionel-messi-did-everything-i-could-to-stay-at-barcelona-as-he-bids-emotional-farewell/" target="_blank">who bade a tearful farewell earlier in the day</a>, Barca's Dutch coach Ronald Koeman must solve the problem of winning trophies without the world's best player. Koeman still has some awesome talent at his disposal, including Antoine Griezmann, Ansu Fati, Gerard Pique, Frenkie de Jong, Pedri and his new arrival Sergio Aguero from Manchester City. And he will have been delighted with the way Barca tuned up for their opening game against Real Sociedad at the weekend as they swept aside Juventus to win the Joan Gamper Trophy at the Johan Cruyff Stadium, despite missing some of their star players. Barca went ahead early as Yusuf Demir released Memphis Depay and the Dutchman didn’t disappoint in a one-on-one against goalkeeper Wojciech Szczesny. Demir had a goal disallowed for offside, and Griezmann had another ruled out before Juve finally found some threat, with Alvaro Morata and Ronaldo going close. Barca made it a comfortable night when Martin Braithwaite added a second after 57 minutes, and Riqui Puig capped it off with a third in stoppage time. <br/>
