The football carnival that has been bestowed on Australia continued last night, with Real Madrid and Manchester City closing out the International Champions Cup at the MCG – and the quality of football has not disappointed.
Across six matches Liverpool, AS Roma, Real Madrid and Manchester City have been welcomed by local fans in their droves.
Liverpool tasted success on both of its outings against A-League clubs Brisbane Roar and Adelaide United throughout the week. Brisbane opened its encounter against the Reds last Friday courtesy of Dimitri Petratos in the 17th minute, but it didn’t take long for Liverpool to strike back, with Adam Lallana finding the back of the net in the 18th minute, before a sealer thanks to James Milner in the 75th.
The Reds then travelled to Adelaide on Monday to take on the local side and were greeted to a spine tingling rendition of the infamous You’ll Never Walk Alone across Adelaide Oval, before slotting home two to take the game two-nil.
Liverpool’s Premier League rival Manchester City opened its Australian account with a win against sister club Melbourne City on the Gold Coast. It wasn’t easy for the 2015 Premier League runner-up, which left it late and took the win thanks to an 86th minute Samir Nasri goal in front of just under 22,000 fans.
The Sky Blues then opened their International Champions Cup efforts with a win against AS Roma – but not before Roma defeated Real Madrid in front of 80,000 fans at the MCG a few days earlier. On that occasion the Italian and Spanish giants kept each other goalless, taking the game into penalties, with Roma triumphing 7-6.
Roma’s return match against Manchester City also went to penalties, but it wasn’t before some sublime goals. By the 20th minute mark the sides stood at 1-1, thanks to Raheem Sterling’s goal on debut for his new club. Roma’s Miralem Pjanic scored a pearling equaliser from outside the box moments later, but their efforts at full time saw the sides locked at 2-2 with penalties ensuing, where the Citizens’ ever reliant goalkeeper Joe Hart stood up and helped guide his side to a 5-4 win in the end.
In other international results involving Greek clubs throughout the week, current champion Olympiakos suffered a 3-2 defeat to Fenerbahce, Asteras Tripolis lost 3-2 to Dutch outfit Vitesse, and Panathinaikos suffered a 2-1 loss to Udinese.
Panathinaikos has been drawn to play Club Brugge in the Champions League third qualifying round next week.