Barcelona played their first game without Lionel Messi who was the figure of the team

FC Barcelona squad members are back at the club for preseason games after the long summer break excluding those who played at the European Championship, Copa America or are currently playing in the Olympics game in Tokyo.

The first game of the season was a 4-0 win over Gimnàstic Tarragona, a fellow Catalan club and a match that featured majorly youth players and was without key figure Lionel Messi who is on holiday after winning the 2021 Copa America.

Young Albanian striker Rey Manaj scored a second half hat-trick and fellow youth player Alex Collado scored the other goal to give Barcelona the victory in the opening friendly at the Estadi Johan Cruyff.

There were first team debuts for the following young players: Arnau Comas, Nils Mortimer, Gavi, Ramos Mingo, Igor Gomes, Matheus Pereira, Moussa Ndiaye, Rey Manaj, Inaki Pena, Hiroki Abe, Alejandro Balde, Peke Polo, Jordi Escobar, Yusuf Demir.

Messi is expected back from his holiday in the coming weeks when his reported new contract is expected to be announced and he starts preparation for the new season.