ICC round-up: Man United & Liverpool win

Posted Thursday, July 26, 2018 by Goal.com

AC Milan 1 Manchester United 1 (8-9 on penalties): Red Devils survive marathon shoot-out

Manchester United enjoyed a winning start to their International Champions Cup campaign after surviving a penalty shoot-out 9-8 against AC Milan.

Franck Kessie chipped a spot-kick over the crossbar to finally hand United victory after 26 penalties, following a 1-1 draw in Pasadena, California on Wednesday.

Milan twice had the opportunity to prevail after Pepe Reina saved three successive penalties, including one from United counterpart Joel Pereira, but the Red devils eventually triumphed in a marathon.

United made a dream start at the Rose Bowl when the refreshed Sanchez broke the deadlock in the 12th minute.

Having struggled following his high-profile arrival from Arsenal, Sanchez – who enjoyed an extended break courtesy of Chile's failure to qualify for the World Cup – scored with a tidy finish past Gianluigi Donnarumma.

Jose Mourinho, however, was left visibly frustrated after United conceded three minutes later – a ball from Leonardo Bonucci picking out Suso with ease.

Both teams enjoyed chances to win their ICC opener but neither side could make the breakthrough in regulation time as United prevailed on penalties.

Bonucci has been tipped to complete a sensational return to Italian champions Juventus but the experienced centre-back skippered a Milan side, boasting Donnarumma, Hakan Calhanoglu, Suso and Patrick Cutrone.

There was no Anthony Martial for United after the disgruntled forward returned home for the birth of his second child amid growing doubts over his future.

The Red Devils, though, still fielded Alexis Sanchez, Juan Mata, Ander Herrera, Eric Bailly, Luke Shaw and out-of-favour Matteo Darmian, who surprisingly wore the captain's armband in Antonio Valencia's absence, despite being linked with a transfer.

Herrera almost put United ahead in the third minute, but Donnarumma got down low to tip away the shot.

But the Red Devils did hit the front thanks to Sanchez nine minutes later after being played through by Mata in a swift move.

United's lead was short-lived, however, as a simple throughball from Bonucci exposed Milan's opponents – Suso firing a half-volley past Lee Grant.

Donnarumma appeared to be targeted by United, who on two occasions attempted to catch the scrambling keeper off his line with Sanchez almost scoring direct from a corner, while Mata came close with a quick free-kick after Herrera was denied by the Italian moments earlier.

Sanchez continued to look sharp and the Chile international's acrobatic volley came close to restoring United's lead two minutes into the second half.

From that point, Milan looked the more likely to add to the scoring as United tired with the minutes ticking by, though the tireless Sanchez provided an outlet up front, while Milan debutant Reina made a fine save to keep out Luke Shaw's long-range effort.

Calhanoglu looped a ball over to Fabio Borini, but the substitute's shot was tipped onto the post by Joel Pereira with six minutes remaining as the match headed to penalties.

ICC round-up: Man United & Liverpool win

Roma 1 Tottenham 4: Llorente, Moura at the double for emphatic Spurs

Fernando Llorente and Lucas Moura scored twice in the first half as Tottenham accounted for Roma 4-1 in their International Champions Cup opener.

Spurs went behind to an early Patrik Schick goal at the Qualcomm Stadium in San Diego, but Llorente – who was deputising up front in the absence of Harry Kane – netted twice in nine minutes to make it 2-1 on Wednesday.

Moura then scored twice before half-time to put the result beyond doubt as Tottenham opened their ICC campaign with victory against the Serie A outfit.

Roma, who reached the Champions League semi-finals last season, made the perfect start as Czech forward Schick found the far corner of the net inside three minutes for his fifth goal in three pre-season fixtures.

But Spurs hit back six minutes later when Spanish veteran Llorente latched onto a deflected Luke Amos cross to head in the equaliser.

The former Juventus, Bilbao and Swansea forward then gave Tottenham the lead when he followed up from Moura's saved shot at the back post.

Former Paris Saint-Germain winger Moura was becoming an influential figure Spurs, and having provided the assist for Llorente's second goal, the Brazilian added a third when he headed home Serge Aurier's pin-point cross.

Moura scored Tottenham's fourth goal on the stroke of half-time after he collected the ball on the edge of the area and drilled accurately into the bottom corner.

A raft of changes were made by both teams as Son Heung-min and Davinson Sanchez featured in their first pre-season games for Spurs, while Daniele De Rossi, Edin Dzeko and Kevin Strootman were among the introductions for Roma.

Substitute Tottenham goalkeeper Paulo Gazzaniga made a fine save with 15 minutes remaining when he turned Dzeko's strike around the post.

But there would be no further goals as Tottenham cruised to a comfortable win against their Italian opponents.

ICC round-up: Man United & Liverpool win

Borussia Dortmund 2 Benfica 2 (3-4 on penalties): Portuguese giants win ICC shoot-out

Benfica ended Borussia Dortmund's 100 per cent start at the International Champions Cup as they triumphed 4-3 on penalties.

Portuguese giants Benfica overturned a two-goal deficit to salvage a 2-2 draw before surviving a shoot-out in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania on Wednesday.

Benfica rallied after the break following two first-half goals from Dortmund's Maximilian Philipp had the Bundesliga side in control – Andre Almeida and Alfa Semedo restoring parity before Eduardo Salvio struck the decisive blow on penalties.

The result ended Dortmund's run of back-to-back wins over Liverpool and Manchester City at the pre-season tournament in the United States, while Benfica avoided defeat in their ICC opener.

Dortmund started slowly as Pizzi fired a free-kick wide, before Omer Toprak came under pressure in his six-yard box to scramble clear.

The German outfit grew into the game, though, and opened the scoring in the 20th minute when Mario Gotze and Jacob Bruun Larsen played a one-two in the area, before Philipp poked home the latter's cross.

Two minutes later it was 2-0 as Philipp latched onto Gotze's pass and volleyed in to double Dortmund's lead.

The former Freiburg striker nearly had a first-half hat-trick as Christian Pulisic crossed to the back post, but Ruben Dias cleared with Philipp lurking.

Dortmund withdrew Pulisic, who scored twice against Liverpool, along with Marcel Schmelzer at half-time, while Benfica changed their front three and halved the deficit six minutes into the second half.

Pizzi's pass was perfectly weighted into the path of Almeida, who hit the ball first time into the far corner beyond Marwin Hitz.

A flurry of changes were made by both teams midway through the second half, but it was a Benfica substitute who levelled the score as Semedo scored at the second attempt, having only arrived on the field three minutes prior.

Franco Cervi and Salvio combined with five minutes remaining, but the Argentina latter was unable to make good contact with his header, before Dortmund's English prospect Jadon Sancho curled wide as the game went to a penalty shoot-out.

Sergio Gomez missed first for Dortmund in the shoot-out with Jonas blasting the ball into the top corner to give Benfica the advantage.

Alexander Isak's penalty was then saved by Mile Svilar before Salvio slotted home calmly to win it for the Eagles.

ICC round-up: Man United & Liverpool win

Manchester City 1 Liverpool 2: Salah scores on return as Mane nets 94th-min penalty

Mohamed Salah made a goalscoring return as Sadio Mane's last-gasp penalty secured a 2-1 win for Liverpool against Manchester City at the International Champions Cup in New Jersey.

All eyes were on Salah at a wet MetLife Stadium, where the reigning Premier Golden Boot winner and Player of the Year started on the bench following a World Cup affected by a shoulder injury sustained in the Champions League final loss to Real Madrid.

And the Egyptian phenomenon – who scored 44 goals in all competitions last season – scored less than a minute after his introduction in the second half, which turned Wednesday's game on its head.

Salah, with the suggestion of offside, headed past the helpless Joe Hart to cancel out Leroy Sane's opener after the German put Manchester City ahead six minutes later, while the Liverpool star struck the woodwork moments later.

Sadio Mane wasted two great chances during the closing stages but it did not matter as he stepped up and converted a 94th-minute penalty after Solanke was bundled over.

Loris Karius retained his spot in the XI despite another error in Liverpool's opening 3-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund last time out, while Virgil van Dijk, Fabinho, Andy Robertson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Adam Lallana, Nathaniel Clyne and Daniel Sturridge also started.

Missing a host of World Cup stars, Pep Guardiola's City line-up was headlined by club-record signing Riyad Mahrez and Claudio Bravo, with Sane and Bernardo Silva among the substitutes following a 1-0 defeat against Dortmund.

Chances were few and far between in the first half, though City had an opportunity to break the deadlock in the 12th minute when Lukas Nmecha was played in brilliantly by Mahrez but Karius made a good save before the rebound was blazed over the crossbar.

The introductions of Sane and Mane brought the match to life in the second half as Liverpool almost made the breakthrough within three minutes of the restart.

A last-ditch intervention off the line denied Mane, who almost bundled the ball into the net following chaos in the penalty area.

City then had a golden opportunity to open the scoring when Luke Bolton left Fabinho in his wake and slid a ball across the six-yard box but Sane's shot was saved by substitute keeper Caoimhim Kelleher.

Sane was not to be denied a minute later as he showed outstanding pace and composure to put the Premier League champions ahead after gliding past Van Dijk and Clyne before finishing calmly – moment of magic which left Klopp shaking his head.

That prompted the addition of Salah just past the hour-mark and he restored parity within seconds of his arrival – guiding a header beyond Hart.

City had no answer to Salah, who almost made it two but his goal-bound header was cleared away for a corner, while he rattled the crossbar moments later after finding space in behind Guardiola's defence.

With penalties looming, the referee pointed to the spot in the fourth minute of stoppage time when Solanke was clumsily fouled in the back by Tosin Adarabioyo following Salah's chipped pass and Mane made no mistake against Hart.

ICC round-up: Man United & Liverpool win

Juventus 2 Bayern Munich 0: Two-goal Favilli sinks German champions

Andrea Favilli announced himself with a first-half brace as Juventus defeated Bayern Munich 2-0 in their International Champions Cup opener.

Joao Cancelo, Mattia Perin and Emre Can were making their Juve debuts in Philadelphia on Wednesday, however, Andrea Favilli stole the show.

Signed from Ascoli, Favilli broke the deadlock in the 32nd minute after Sven Ulreich's failed to deal with a poor back-pass from team-mate Josip Stanisic at Lincoln Financial Field midweek.

The 21-year-old then doubled the lead in cool fashion eight minutes later to condemn Niko Kovac to his first defeat as Bayern head coach since replacing Jupp Heynckes in the off-season.

There was no Cristiano Ronaldo following his sensational switch from Real Madrid but Juve still fielded a star-studded XI, including Perin, Can, Cancelo, Giorgio Chiellini, Daniele Rugani, Claudio Marchisio, Miralem Pjanic, Alex Sandro and Federico Bernardeschi.

Bayern – who defeated Paris Saint-Germain 3-1 in their ICC opener – fielded the likes of Franck Ribery, Javi Martinez, Juan Barnat and Serge Gnabry in the line-up, with Arjen Robben, David Alaba, Kingsley Coman and Renato Sanches on the bench.

It was a lively start despite the wet conditions as Ulreich was forced into an early save – the back-up keeper managing to get a strong hand to keep out Favilli's powerful attempt.

Perin enjoyed a relatively comfortable half, though the former Genoa star was called into action to deny Ribery, who showed some nice foot work to create space to unleash a fine curling effort four minutes later.

Bundesliga holders Bayern began to take control as the half wore on, with Juve surviving a couple of goal-mouth scrambles, however, it was the Italian champions who opened the scoring just past the half-hour mark.

A poor back-pass from Stanisic put Ulreich under serious pressure and Marchisio pounced on the wayward return ball, picking out Favilli and the new signing side-footed the opener with the German shot-stopper caught off his line.

Bayern were forced into a substitution with Martinez – who has endured an injury-ravaged career – replaced by Alaba following a collision with Favilli.

Favilli was in the thick of the action again five minutes prior to the interval when he sprung the offside trap after Sandro's long ball and finished coolly beyond Ulreich.

The only concern for Juve from the first half was Can's withdrawal two minutes before the break.

Bayern substitute Woo-Yeong Jeong should have reduced the deficit just shy of the hour-mark but the Korean teenager somehow blazed over the bar with the goal at his mercy.