Birmingham City claimed a 3-2 victory on penalties after an entertaining 2-2 draw with FC Barcelona in a pre-season friendly at St. Andrew's @ Knighthead Park.
The match served as Barcelona's first public pre-season fixture of their summer camp in England under Hansi Flick, with summer signing Karim Adeyemi making his official debut.
Flick fielded a youthful side alongside senior players, as several key international players were absent following post-2026 World Cup breaks.
Birmingham took the lead in the 31st minute when August Priske headed Alex Cochrane's cross into the bottom-left corner from the centre of the box.
Barcelona drew level three minutes before half-time through Hamza Abdelkarim, who calmly slotted a penalty into the bottom-right corner after Christoph Klarer had earlier received a yellow card.
Abdelkarim struck again on the hour mark to put Barcelona ahead, steering a close-range left-footed shot into the net after a long-range effort from Shane Kluivert was spilled.
The host side equalised eight minutes later as Jhon Solís fired home a right-footed shot from the centre of the box, converting after Klarer headed a set piece across.
Birmingham almost won the game in regulation time, but an effort rebounded off the crossbar around fifteen minutes from the final whistle.
With the sides locked at 2-2 at the end of regulation time, Birmingham went on to win the penalty shootout 3-2.
The encounter re-kindled historical ties between the clubs, dating back to when Birmingham became the first English team to play in a European final against Barcelona in the 1960 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.
The fixture served as Birmingham's final warm-up test ahead of their competitive season opening in the EFL Cup on August 8.
