Barcelona beat Real Madrid in USA El Clasico
Barcelona continued their pre-season tour of the USA with a 3-0 win over Real Madrid in Arlington, Texas. Ousmane Dembele’s early goal was followed up by late strikes from Fermin Lopez and Ferran Torres.
“The result is a bit misleading,” said Barca coach Xavi Hernandez. “We shouldn’t be overconfident. The result is very favourable but it doesn’t mean we played a super match.
There are many things to improve.”
New Barca signing Oriel Romeu was the first to hit the woodwork at the home of the NFL’s Dallas Cowboys as he rattled the Real crossbar with a thundering drive in the fourth minute.
But Barca took the lead shortly after as a cleverly worked free-kick resulted in Pedri sliding a diagonal pass into the path of Dembele, who drilled the ball inside the far corner from a tight angle.
Real were awarded a penalty just five minutes later after Barca defender Ronald Araujo handled in the box but Vinicius Junior blasted the spot-kick against the bar.
Aurelien Tchouameni fired a long-range strike against the bar after half-time and as Real pushed for an equaliser, Barca substitute Lopez, 20, beat Thibuat Courtois on 85 minutes with a 20-yard strike after Toni Kroos had given away possession.
Torres sealed the win as he ran on to a Lopez pass before lifting the ball over the advancing Courtois and tapping it into the empty net.
Credit: bbc.com
Liverpool cruise past Leicester in Singapore
Liverpool continued their pre-season preparations with a comfortable 4-0 win over Leicester City in Singapore. Darwin Nunez, Bobby Clark and Diogo Jota scored within eight first-half minutes before Ben Doak added a fourth after the break.
Midfielders Alexis MacAllister and Dominik Szobozlai also featured as the Reds continue their midfield rebuild.
Patson Daka had Leicester’s best chance late on but he was denied by a last-ditch Jarell Quansah block.
Nunez started half of Liverpool’s Premier League games last season and Jurgen Klopp says his ticket into the team will be his “readiness to defend”.
“I don’t think I have to tell our fans, it’s pretty much traditionally – or historically – for us that usually players for us, especially offensive players, [need time],” said Liverpool boss Klopp.
“For Darwin [it’s] the same like for all the other strikers as well because I know about the quality they have and they need to do both, like our other players have to do both as well – defend and being influential in all the offensive situations.”
Klopp added: “It’s good, you can see he is a handful, the speed and the goal was a typical goalscorer’s goal. Being there, smelling it and finishing it off. In training he looks really good. He is fit, that helps, and now two more games and Chelsea.”
Liverpool end their tour of Asia with a friendly against Bayern Munich in Singapore on Wednesday, while Leicester return home to host local rivals Coventry City in their opening Championship game on 6 August.
Credit: bbc.com
Atletico Madrid beat Man City, as Pep’s side suffer defeat in South Korea
Manchester City suffered their first defeat of pre-season as second-half goals from Memphis Depay and Yannick Carrasco gave Atletico Madrid a 2-1 win in South Korea.
Guardiola named a strong side in South Korea with Erling Haaland starting up front alongside Julian Alvarez.
Kick-off at the Seoul World Cup Stadium was twice delayed due to torrential rain, which at one stage appeared to have threatened the fixture from going ahead.
City thought they had taken a first half lead when the match eventually got underway, only for Rodri’s effort from a Phil Foden corner to be ruled out for a foul.
Alvarez, Foden and Haaland all missed good openings for the Treble winners during the first half.
Depay, one of several second half substitutes, put Atletico Madrid ahead with a powerful drive past Stefan Ortega from the edge of the box.
Diego Simeone’s side quickly doubled their advantage through Yannick Carrasco. Carrasco drifted past Rico Lewis from a wide position, before sending a low shot into the corner of the City net.
City grabbed a late consolation from a set-piece, with Ruben Dias heading in Sergio Gomez’s corner in the 85th minute.
Guardiola’s side will now return back to England to play the Community Shield against Arsenal next weekend.
Credit: dailymail.co.uk
West Ham suffer first pre-season defeat against Rennes
Despite a goal from Czech midfielder Tomas Soucek, West Ham‘s efforts against Stade Rennais were not enough to earn them a pre-season victory.
The French team steamed ahead in the opening ten minutes, when French midfielder Baptiste Santamaria found the back of the net with a long-range strike from 35 yards out.
David Moyes named an almost full-squad for the first time and headed into the second half level with their French opponents.
However, it wasn’t long before Rennes reclaimed their lead with a close-range goal from under-21s Arnaud Kalimuendo, closely following by an unfortunate own goal from Angelo Ogbonna.
Suffering their first defeat, attention turns to the club’s summer transfer window, as they are one of the few Premier League clubs yet to make a signing.
The Irons lost captain Declan Rice in a record transfer bid of £105million to London rivals Arsenal in July. The Hammers boss will have a difficult job in finding a suitable midfield replacement for an already-weakened side.
Credit: dailymail.co.uk
