Chelsea play their third International Champions Cup game at home to Barcelona on Wednesday, with the Blues looking to build on their penalty shootout victory over Paris Saint-Germain in the last match. It is José Mourinho's last chance to iron out any tactical problems before they take on Arsenal in the traditional English curtain-raiser, Sunday's Community Shield match against Arsenal.
Barcelona, however, shouldn't make life easy. Star attackers Lionel Messi and Neymar may both be among the players enjoying some time out after appearances at the Copa América, but they'll doubtless be disappointed with their 3-1 defeat to Manchester United last time out. Fortunately they do have a little longer to sort themselves out: their first competitive (or semi-competitive) game is the UEFA Super Cup against Sevilla on Aug. 11.
Fun Chelsea fringe player to watch: Juan Cuadrado
Juan Cuadrado joined Chelsea from Fiorentina in January, having been one of the most exciting players in Serie A over the last few years. However, he failed to make an immediate impact, and has much to prove over the upcoming season. A good performance against Barcelona would be a promising start.
Fun Barcelona fringe player to watch: Alen Halilović
19-year-old attacking midfielder Alen Halilović hasn't yet made a league appearance for Barcelona, but has already picked up seven international caps for Croatia. He'll be looking to use his preseason game time to show coach Luis Enrique that he's worthy of more involvement in the first team in the upcoming campaign.
Compared to other friendlies, is this worth my time?
Collectively these sides don't have many big new signings to show off (in part thanks to Barcelona's transfer ban), but they're both important clubs. 6/10.
Match date/time: Tuesday, 8:05 p.m. ET/local
Venue: FedEx Field, Landover, United States
TV: Fox Sports 2 (U.S. - English), ESPN Deportes, (U.S. - Spanish), TSN (Canada), Sky Sports 1/HD (U.K.), Canal+ Liga / HD, TV3 (Spain)
Online: Fox Sports Go, Fox Soccer 2 Go, WatchESPN (U.S.), Sky Go (U.K.)