Abraham and Barkley defeat poor Barca on Griezmann's disappointing debut

Chelsea bounced back from last week's shock defeat to Kawasai Frontale in style by comfortably beating Barcelona 2-1 in a Rakuten Cup friendly match in Japan. It was a much improved performance from the one just four days ago.

Although Barca, who were without Messi and Suarez due to the Copa America, threatened the Chelsea goal in just the second minute when Oriol Busquets headed over a corner delivered by Collado, the first period was dominated by Frank Lampard's men. Azpilicueta headed wide a lovely cross from Kovacic just two minutes later before Umtiti prevented the Catalans being caught out from a quickly taken set-piece. 

Barca enjoyed some good possession and territory, but their opponents were much more threatening. Antoine Griezmann made his debut and he suffered a knock to his right knee when Jorginho was late to a 50:50 ball. Fortunately, it did not end up being too serious. After this stoppage though, Chelsea took command.

Pulisic, who looked sharp, saw his shot saved in the 23rd minute after being played in by Kovacic before Abraham fired over the rebound. Mason Mount then hit a curling shot wide seconds later before Pulisic sliced an effort wide once again. Finally, after 34 minutes, Chelsea got the well earned breakthrough. Oriol passed the ball to Sergio Busquets just outside his own area, he then tried to pass, but it was blocked by Jorginho's foot. Fortuitiously for him, it broke straight into the path of Tammy Abraham who slotted home after rounding Ter Stegen. 

The USA international had yet another chance to score five minutes before the break when he hit the side netting before Dembele had Barca's first attempt for some considerable time. Antoine Griezmann had a very quiet debut and his only chance of note was when Alba fed him in on the stroke of half-time. Kepa made a routine stop though. 

After the interval, Ernesto Valverde, who made numerous changes including the introductions of De Jong, Semedo and Carles Perez, saw his team improve significantly. Semedo hit a shot wide just seconds into the second period and Chelsea were clearly shaken by their opponent's reaction.

Rafinha forced a save out of Kepa in the 53rd minute after turning from inside the D before Carles Perez beat a couple of defenders with some twists and turns. His end product was a tame effort at the keeper though. Just seconds later, in the 56th minute, he had another yet another shot on target. Chelsea finally reacted with Pedro having an ambitious pop at Neto, who had come on at half-time, but the Barcelona opportunities continued to come. 

Alena hit a powerful strike at Kepa after a lovely flick by Rafinha before the Brazilian was caught offside on he rebound and then Perez set up a teammate to test the Chelsea shotstopper just after the hour mark.

Finally, after 16 minutes of intense pressure, Chelsea managed to break free and play some football. Kenedy almost scored 18 minutes into the second half when his shot was going miles wide before taking a wicked deflection. Neto was up to the task though. Chelsea controlled the game after that without too much difficulty with some good possession. Batshuayi was denied by Neto 13 minutes from time, but four minutes later, Chelsea doubled their advantage. Giroud crossed for Barkley in the middle whose shot from 20 yards took a strange trajectory to beat Neto to his right. 

Ivan Rakitic tried to set up a grandstand finish when he scored an absolute screamer from 25 yards out which went right into the top corner, but in truth, Chelsea held on easily to give their side some confidence after their poor showing last time out.

Lampard's side fully deserved to win the match and it was obvious that they were more acclimatised to the conditions as well as having played more pre-season games. For Barca, it was a disappointing showing in truth except for the odd bit of brilliance from youngster Carles Perez and the superb strike by Ivan Rakitic. They clearly miss the big two upfront and will need to improve for their next match against Vissel Kobe on Saturday.