July 24, (THEWILL) – Club football picked up the pace of preparations for next season with a slew of friendly matches across Europe. Of the different Nigerians who were in action, two were most decisive in the outcomes of these Saturday matches.
Napoli’s Victor Osimhen continued to shine under new manager Luciano Spalletti and lead in target again, after the four goals he scored in the first friendly, with the only goal for the I Partenopei in the second for the about an hour duration he was in action.
It was the opposite for Kelechi Iheanacho whose Leicester City side lost via penalty shootouts to League One side Burton Albion, that competes in the third tier of the English football league system. The FA Cup holders lost the 2021 Bass Charity Vase when Iheanacho fired his penalty over the bar.
In other matches, and with a smattering of Europe’s big teams not yet operating at full squad capacities as some players have yet to return from holidays, Championship side Queens Park Rangers upset Manchester United 4-2, and Arsenal finally found victory behind closed doors with a 4-1 defeat of Millwall, the EFL Championship side in the English second division.
A partial strength Bayern Munich drew 2-2 with Ajax, Juventus did not need Cristiano Ronaldo to beat RC Cesena 3-1 while AC Milan went on rampage to tear Modena apart with a 5-0 drubbing. Barcelona’s new body Memphis Depay was on the scoresheet in their 3-1 victory over Girona while Achraf Hakimi began life in Paris with PSG’s lone goal against Orleans.
THEWILL breakdowns these friendly matches below:
Napoli 1 – 0 Pro Vercelli
A Victor Osimhen header proved enough for Napoli to beat Serie C side Pro Vercelli, but Diego Demme’s knee injury marred the joy of the victory for the Nigerian international striker’s side.
A statement from the club confirms more tests will be performed tomorrow, suggesting they fear possible ligament damage for Demme, which is no way to head into the 2021/2022 season for Napoli.
Osimhen’s goal came through a Mario Rui corner, which was knocked on by Amir Rrahmani for the striker’s header. Zedadka was unlucky to hit the woodwork when sent clear on goal by Osimhen and the Nigerian striker missed an open goal after the restart also.
Burton Albion 0(3) – 0(1) Leicester City
BURTON Albion celebrated the return of fans to the Pirelli Stadium after 501 days away by winning the 2021 Bass Charity Vase in a penalty shoot-out after a goalless 90 minutes against FA Cup holders Leicester City.
Leicester played two different elevens in each half on their first outing of pre-season whilst Albion, playing their fourth game of their preparations only made changes through the second half.
Bryn Morris scored the winning penalty after Joe Powell and Frazer Blake-Tracy had calmly slotted home their spot kicks. Omari Patrick’s was the only Burton penalty kick saved whilst Ben Garratt made two excellent saves before Kelechi Iheanacho blazed his effort over the bar.
Queens Park Rangers 4 – 2 Manchester United
QPR defeated the Premier League club Manchester United by a 4-2 margin in a pre-season friendly at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium. The sides went into the break level after returnee forward Jesse Lingard’s opener was cancelled out by Charlie Austin.
Lyndon Dykes scored a double and a long-range stunner from Moses Odubajo saw QPR go 4-1 up in the second half, as they scored three times in seven wild minutes to stun United. But, 19-year-old Anthony Elanga stroked in a consolation goal for United late on to soften the blow.
It will still sting manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who had just signed a new deal keeping him at United until 2024, and could have used a better result to celebrate his contract extension. But, he was short-handed and has to field a young side with many senior players still unavailable after international duty.
Arsenal 4 – 1 Millwall
The Gunners found a pre-season victory after a loss and a draw as goals from Callum Chambers, Nicolas Pepe, Folarin Balogun and Alexandre Lacazette saw Arsenal triumph 4-1 against Millwall.
The friendly was arranged hastily after the Gunners were unable to travel to a tournament in the US because of positive Covid tests in their camp. As THEWILL reported, Arsenal and Inter Milan were both due to travel to Florida to play against one another and compete with Colombian side Millonarios and Everton.
However, Arsenal released a statement on the website confirming that they would not be travelling due to COVID-19-related reasons. That was why the Millwall replacement match was played behind closed doors.
Bayern Munich 2 – 2 Ajax
In their first home game this season, Bayern Munich had to settle for a draw against Ajax after an entertaining ninety minutes. It was a battle between two young coaches testing their young teams against one another.
Julian Nagelsmann and Erik Ten Haag’s boys put on a show for the partially filled Allianz Arena. While the game did seem evenly matched, Bayern had the edge against the opposition, creating favourable situations for themselves and could have even won the game had they been sharper.
Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting was among the goals as Bayern Munich drew 2-2 with Dutch champions Ajax in the second pre-season friendly of the Julian Nagelsmann era on Saturday.
AC Milan 5 – 0 Modena
AC Milan’s second friendly of the season yielded a second much more comfortable victory, as Stefano Pioli’s men beat Modena 5-0 at Milanello with another convincing performance.
The goals all came in a first half of high intensity from the team, who led 3-0 after only 9 minutes. That advantage grew further during the first half, allowing some youngsters to get a run-out in the second; Fodé Ballo-Touré also made his debut.
The positive signs from the Pro Sesto game were confirmed here: the team showed great tempo – continually moving the ball first time – and impressive movement off the ball, which demonstrates the real unity within this group who have just finished another week of pre-season.
Juventus 3 – 1 RC Cesena
In a debut match for returning manager, Massimiliano Allegri, again found himself playing a first game against Cesena, just like it was seven years ago.
The friendly match played at Continassa, was the missing a good size of the Bianconeri squad. This is because plenty of them are Azzurri nationals and have yet to return from the triumphal adventure at Euro 2020, which they won.
Then, there was no Ronaldo too for Allegri, who was also missing the injured Dybala and Arthur. Yet, with all that big names absent, Juve won with a clear 3-1. Koni de Winter, Weston Mckennie and Matias Soule with the goals for Allegri to start off on a winning note again.
Barcelona 3 – 1 Girona
Catalan giants Barca overcame Girona 3-1 in their pre-season friendly at the Estati Johan Cruyff, with Memphis Depay coming on as a substitute and scoring the final goal from the penalty spot for the hosts.
It was a game of three penalties. The first, for Barca, was buried by Gerard Pique and Samu Saiz scoring his for Girona both in first half alone. Before spot the hattrick-scorer from the Gimnastic pre-season match, Rey Manaj, entered the scoresheet again for his fourth goal in two matches to make Camp Nou not miss Lionel Messi too much.
PSG 1 – 0 Orleans
Achraf Hakimi began his Parisian story with success in his first game with the side in the pre-season against Orleans. His goal in the PSG jersey means the Ligue 1 side’s preparations for the new season are going according to schedule, two weeks before the resumption of the season.
The Parisians were billed to face Genoa, until the latter cancelled and were replaced by the Italian side Orleans. They will go from the victory on Saturday to play against Sevilla for the last friendly before the official debut of the season, which will be the Supercup of France against Lille on Sunday, August 1.
About the Author
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
