Barcelona feels the jet lag, falls to América in friendly at Cotton Bowl

América beat Barcelona 3-2 on a rainy Thursday night at the Cotton Bowl in a friendly match that took place under extraordinary circumstances.

Organizers announced the game as an effort to help the victims of Hurricane Otis, which devastated the coast of the Mexican state of Guerrero 57 days ago.

América played Thursday’s match four days after winning the Liga MX title.

It was the 14th title in the team’s history. América is the Mexican club with the most championships.

On Wednesday night, Barcelona hosted a Spanish League match against Almería at Camp Nou. Barcelona won 3-2

At the end of the game, Barcelona headed directly to the airport to take an 11-hour flight that brought the team to Dallas.

Barcelona arrived at the D-FW International Airport early Thursday morning, and a few hours later, they were playing against América in front of approximately 20,000 fans at the Cotton Bowl.

Media reports in Spain indicate that Barcelona players wanted to avoid the long trip to Dallas.

Reports from El Diario Sport of Spain indicate that Barcelona executives gave $110,000 to each player to agree to travel.

Barcelona, the current champion of the Spanish League, is in severe financial trouble, and the club’s executives welcome all the revenue they can get from playing friendly matches.

According to reports from the Spanish media, Barcelona got $5.4 million for playing at the Cotton Bowl.

Playing two games in 24 hours is unusual, much less when it comes to elite teams like Barcelona.

The Professional Footballers’ Association has stated that teams must rest at least 72 hours between matches.

Club América arrived in Dallas on Wednesday evening.

The haste with which both teams arrived did not prevent the teams from offering a good game.

Barcelona presented a lineup full of young players from the B team, like 16-year-old Lamine Yama, who scored the game’s first goal with a cross-shot in the 6th minute.

“We try to be at our best and give minutes to everyone who travels as part of the squad”, said Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez.

América, which started the game with many of its star players, tied the game in the 11th minute with an assist from Alejandro Zendejas to Julian Quiñones, who put the ball in the net with a backheel shot.

“It was a nice game to celebrate our championship, playing against a great team as Barcelona will always be an honor,” said América coach André Jardine.

Barcelona took the lead in the 28th minute with a shot by Marc Guiu, who took advantage of a low cross by Hector Fort.

Quiñones tied the game for América in the 50th minute and Henry Martin scored the winning goal in the 82nd.

The Barcelona coach said that the hasty trip to Dallas was for the financial benefit of the club.

“We know the club’s situation. We all have to row in the same direction to sustain the club financially,” Hernandez said.

According to The Associated Press, Barcelona’s current debt is $582 million.

The club has increasingly played mid-season and end-of-season matches abroad in a bid to raise money.

Twitter: @abrahamrussek