Barça brought an end to a disappointing season this evening, with a victory over South African champions Mamelodi Sundowns. Barça had little time to prepare the game, while Gio, Belletti Thuram, Oleguer and Iniesta all got the chance to meet ex-president Nelson Mandela earlier in the day. Barça players began the game looking like they couldn’t wait for their holidays, and they were immediately punished when Moriri put the locals one up in the second minute. Barça were generally disappointing, only Samuel Eto’o fought from the start, but as the game went on the pride of the players showed, as demonstrated by a wild foul by Puyol after 67 minutes for which he was booked. Eventually the pride and the talent paid off. On 78 minutes a free-kick from Ronaldinho was punched clear by the goalkeeper, the ball fell to Iniesta and his shot was deflected to the feet of Ezquerro who hooked the ball home easily. Four minutes later Barça made it 2-1 when an excellent pass from Ronaldinho set up Marc Crosas who belted a right footer into the far corner.

Valdes, (Jorquera,45); Belletti, (Puyol,45), Oleguer, Thuram, (Olmo,77), Gio, (Zambrotta,45); Motta, (Iniesta,45), Xavi, Deco, (Crosas,76); Giuly, (Ezquerro,45), Eto’o, (Víctor Vázquez,90), Ronaldinho, (Dimas Delgado,89).