PASADENA — Goals from Luis Suarez and Sergi Roberto lifted Barcelona to a 2-1 victory over the Los Angeles Galaxy Tuesday that manager Luis Enrique called an encouraging start to the European Champions' North American tour. Uruguay international Suarez came out on top in a clash with former Liverpool teammate Steven Gerrard — the Galaxy's latest acquisition from Europe. His 45th-minute strike and Roberto's 56th-minute goal ensured that even without such stars as Argentina's Lionel Messi and Brazilian Neymar — let off the pre-season tour after Copa America duty — Barcelona got the win their dominant performance deserved in front of 93,226 fans at Pasadena's Rose Bowl. It was the largest crowd ever to watch a match featuring a Major League Soccer club. “Based on what a first game of the pre-season looks like, considering we've only had about seven days of practice, a lot of traveling, overall I feel very positive,” the coach said. “Overall, our players look good.” Barcelona, preparing to defend their La Liga, Copa Del Rey and Champions League treble, effectively neutralized any threat from Gerrard and Galaxy teammate Robbie Keane, while pressing relentlessly themselves. They were finally rewarded in the 45th minute when Suarez fired a left-footed shot past Galaxy keeper Brian Rowe after Rafinha's deflected cross was moved on by Marc Bartra. Suarez had been off-target from the center of the area in the 11th and from long range in the 23rd, while Rowe made a diving save of Roberto's attempt from outside the box in the 35th. Both teams made wholesale changes at the break, with Suarez among the seven Barcelona players to depart and Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique entering the game. Galaxy coach Bruce Arena went even further, but Luis Enrique said such sweeping changes were “logical” for both teams. The changes didn't slow Barca, with Douglas going close in the 47th minute and Pique testing substitute Galaxy keeper Andrew Wolverton in the 53rd after a pass from Munir. Munir also helped set up Roberto's 56th-minute strike from the edge of the box — which brought joyous cheers of “Barca! Barca!” from the crowd. The minority of Galaxy fans in the stands, on a balmy night in the foothills northeast of Los Angeles, had few real scoring chance to cheer, although Tommy Meyer grabbed a consolation goal in the first minute of injury time, heading in from close range. United beats Earthquakes Coach Louis van Gaal is mixing and matching his lineups and found few highlights worth mentioning from Manchester United's latest preseason victory. Juan Mata and Memphis Depay scored five minutes apart in the first half, and Manchester United drew a big Bay Area crowd as the Red Devils beat the San Jose Earthquakes 3-1 Tuesday night for another win in the International Champions Cup. “Nobody is secure of his positon in the team,” van Gaal said. “You have to win your position on the pitch.” Andreas Pereira added another goal on a header off Jesse Lingard's cross in the 61st minute for Manchester United. Van Gaal went with his second 10 players in the field after halftime before a packed stadium. Not even new midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger, among the second-half subs, was immune to the criticism. “He was also bad,” van Gaal said. “There was one highlight I think and that was Pereira. Players can play bad and certainly when you have only six days training session in your legs and you have to play 45 minutes, everybody can think that it's easy to step in, but it is not easy. The first match he played very well and now he played bad. But that is also a process.” After his recent departure from Bayern Munich, Schweinsteiger will make his highly anticipated Premier League debut when the schedule begins next month. He played for the World Cup-winning German team last summer in Brazil. Manchester United will remain in the Bay Area through the week and face Barca at nearby $1.3 billion Levi's Stadium, new home of the NFL San Francisco 49ers. — Agencies
