ROYALS STEP UP PRE-SEASON PREPARATIONS AT ST GEORGE’S
READING FC are at England’s training base, St George’s Park, as they step up their pre-season preparations.
After taking to the pitch for the first time this preseason in a 2-0 win over Colchester United, Paul Ince’s squad are now taking part in a one week training camp.
Reading’s next friendly match will also take part at St George’s Park which is against Portuguese side Benfica.
Benfica are under new management after they appointed German boss Roger Schmidt in May.
They ended the 2021/22 season in third place under caretaker manager Nelson Verissimo after previous manager Jorge Jesus left by mutual consent in December 2021.
They finished a disappointing 17 points behind champions Porto in what was the club’s third consecutive season without silverware.
Among Benfica’s ranks are three former Premier League players. Nicolas Otamendi who played for Manchester City for five seasons, Jan Vertonghtne who spent eight seasons at Tottenham Hotspur and Adel Taarabt who starred for Queens Park Rangers.
Benfica enjoyed a good run in last season’s Champions League which saw them progress through the group stages after finishing as runners-up behind Bayern Munich.
They fought off competition from Barcelona and Dynamo Kiev as
Benfica thumped Barca
3-0 at home and earned a goalless draw at the Camp Nou to finish in second on eight points, one above the Spanish giants.
Benfica made it past Dutch champions Ajax in the round of 16 after they snatched a
1-0 away win at the Johan Cruyff Arena courtesy of Nunez’ second-half strike to complete a 3-2 aggregate win.
They were eliminated in the quarter finals despite putting up a stern test against Liverpool where they eventually lost 6-4 on aggregate after another impressive showing from young forward Nunez who netted in both matches.
Ince still has plenty of work to do to get his squad ready ahead of the 2022/23 Championship season but work has begun with the additions of Joe Lumley,
Dean Bouzanis and Tom Ince, while Tom Holmes, Andy Yiadom and Femi Azeez have signed up to new deals.
After facing Benfica, Reading host two Premier League sides at the Select Car Leasing Stadium, West Ham United and Brighton & Hove Albion.
In between the Brighton meeting, the Royals travel away to Mark Bowen’s former side AFC Wimbledon. Reading FC training squad: Kelvin Abrefa, Jokull Andresson, Femi Azeez, Dean Bouzanis, Scott Dann, Ovie Ejaria, Tom Holmes, Louie Holzman, Tom Ince, Lucas Joao, Kian Leavy, Joe Lumley, Tom McIntyre, Yakou Meite, Rashawn Scott, Luke Southwood, Dejan Tetek, Andy Yiadom