July 27, 2003 – Ronaldinho makes Barcelona debut

The 32.25 million euro transfer of Ronaldinho from Paris Saint-Germain to Barcelona was concluded on July 21, but Ronaldinho was not planning to compete for Barça in the U.S. Promoters insisted Ronaldinho appear in the match, and they had their way as he replaced Oscar Lopez in the second half of a 2-2 draw with Juventus.

Javier Saviola gave Barça a 2-0 halftime lead, then Juventus equalized on late Marco DiVaio and Fabrizio Miccoli goals. The Blaugrana won the post-match penalty kick shootout, 6-5.

Ronaldinho played five seasons for Barcelona, winning the 2005-06 Champions League and two La Liga titles, and capturing the 2005 Ballon d’Or.

This was a rematch of a 2002-03 Champions League quarterfinal, Juve having eliminated Barcelona, then defeating Real Madrid, before losing to Milan on penalty kicks in the final.

The game was also warmup for the Italian Super Cup, Juventus playing to a 1-1 draw, then taking a penalty kick decision over Milan at Giants Stadium Aug. 3.

There were 12 soccer games staged at Gillette Stadium from July 12-27, 2003 (the grass field held up just fine). This match was part of a ChampionsWorld series, which drew 420,000-plus attendance for eight matches (including the Italian Super Cup) as a forerunner of the current ICC tournament. Chris Aduama photos

July 27, 2003 – Barcelona 2:2 Juventus at Gillette Stadium (Att.: 30,912)

            Revolution 2:4 D.C. United

7/27/03 BARCELONA-JUVENTUS 2-2

BARCELONA: Rustu Recber (Victor Valdes 46′); Gerard Lopez (David Sanchez 63′), Michael Reiziger, Xavi Hernandez (Iniesta 75′), Patrick Andersson, Carles Puyol; Ricardo Quaresma (Ramon Ros 78′), Oscar Lopez (Ronaldinho Gaucho), Marc Overmars (Luis Garcia 46′); Javier Saviola (Dani 46′).

JUVE: Gianluigi Buffon; Alessandro Birindelli (Ciro Ferrara 75′), Mark Iuliano (Paolo Montero 77′), Nicola Legrottaglie (Antonio Conte 75′); Alessio Tacchinardi (Salvatore Fresi 75′), Stephan Appiah, Edgar Davids (Enzo Maresca 62′), Pavel Nedved (Gianluca Pessotto 62′), Gianluca Zambrotta (Mauro Camoranesi 62′); Alessandro Del Piero (Marco DiVaio 62′), David Trezeguet (Fabrizio Miccoli 62′).

Referee: Kevin Terry. Goals: Saviola 28′ (pk), 41′; DiVaio 87′, Miccoli 89′. Att: 30,912.

En las series de un disparo por bando, ambos embocaron su sexto lanzamiento. En el séptimo, Valdés detuvo el de Gianluca Pessotto, y a continuación, el defensor del Barca, Carles Puyol, metió el penal de la victoria.

7/27/03 REVOLUTION-D.C. UNITED 2-4    (5-6-7, 30-33)

REV: Reis 6; Heaps 5, Cullen 5, Kante 4.5, Franchino 5; Noonan 5 (Ralston 67′ 5), Joseph 5, Cancela 7 (Harris 76′ 5), Kamler 4; Joe-Max Moore 5.5, Twellman 7.

DC UTD: Rimando 5.5; Prideaux 5.5, Ivanov 5 (Etcheverry 46′ 6.5), Petke 5.5, Namoff 5 (Quintanilla 70′ 7); Olsen 5.5, Nelsen 5.5, Kovalenko 6; Stoitchkov 5 (Eskandarian 46′ 6), Quaranta 5.5, Curtis 5.

Referee: Marcel Yonan. Goals: Twellman 26′, 32′, Quintanilla 83′, 91’+ (pk), Kovalenko 92’+, Eskandarian 93’+.

TODAY IN NEW ENGLAND SOCCER HISTORY