Tottenham and Liverpool end pre-season with victories
- Published
Tottenham ended their pre-season campaign with an impressive 2-0 victory over Serie A winners and Champions League runners-up Juventus at Wembley.
Spurs produced a well-worked goal in each half, scored by Harry Kane and Christian Eriksen respectively.
However, right-back Kieran Trippier limped off injured and later left the ground on crutches.
Liverpool also concluded their warm-up games with a victory, beating La Liga side Athletic Bilbao 3-1 in Dublin.
Roberto Firmino, Ben Woodburn and Dominic Solanke scored the goals in front of over 51,000 fans in Ireland.
Jurgen Klopp's side will go into the new Premier League season, which they begin at Watford next Saturday, off the back of a pre-season campaign during which they were unbeaten inside 90 minutes.
Kane and Eriksen see off Juve
Having struggled during their Champions League games at Wembley last season, Tottenham produced a confidence-boosting victory at their temporary home on Saturday.
Kane gave them the lead, heading home Trippier's cross from close range at the end of a sweeping move, before Eriksen collected a Dele Alli pass and rounded Gianluigi Buffon before tapping home.
They also hit the woodwork twice, with Moussa Sissoko curling a shot against the post and Kane hammering an effort off the underside of the bar.
There will be some concern over Trippier, who is the club's first-choice right-back following the sale of Kyle Walker to Manchester City but he limped off following two heavy challenges with Alex Sandro between the two goals.
Klopp keeps Watford guessing
Liverpool boss Klopp gave the majority of his 23-strong travelling squad at least 45 minutes to impress in Dublin, making 10 changes at half-time.
This is exactly what they did as the starting XI produced an impressive opening salvo that included Firmino winning a penalty that he then converted to give the Reds the lead.
Their progress was checked when an under-strength Bilbao levelled as Inaki Williams outmuscled Dejan Lovren and finished calmly.
Liverpool's second-half side struggled initially but soon found their feet and reclaimed the lead through a superb strike from Woodburn after he had been set up by summer signing Solanke.
The former Chelsea man then grabbed a goal for himself, rising to steer a header in from a Ragnar Klavan's perfectly-directed cross.
Crowd trouble halts Burnley game
Burnley's pre-season came to an abrupt halt when their game against German club Hannover was abandoned on police advice after crowd trouble.
Trouble broke out in the first half in the Hannover fans' section at Turf Moor on Saturday.
Burnley, who had been leading 1-0 after a header from Ben Mee, announced at half-time that the game had been abandoned.
Elsewhere, Swansea beat Italian side Sampdoria 4-0 at the Liberty Stadium with goals from Leroy Fer, a Ricky Alvarez own goal, Tammy Abraham and Federico Fernandez.
- Published6 August 2017
- Published5 August 2017