Benzema, Asensio on target as Real Madrid down Juventus 2-0 in friendly
Los Angeles, United States - Karim Benzema converted an early penalty and Marco Asensio added a second-half insurance goal as Real Madrid beat Juventus 2-0 in a pre-season friendly at California’s Rose Bowl on Saturday.
With his eye on Real Madrid’s European Super Cup clash with Eintracht Frankfurt in 10 days, coach Carlo Ancelotti started the same lineup that beat Liverpool in the Champions League final.
They produced the first victory of Real Madrid’s United States tour, after a 1-0 loss to La Liga rivals Barcelona in Las Vegas and a 2-2 draw against Mexico’s Club America in San Francisco.
Spectators were still trickling into the stands when French star Benzema had a goal disallowed just eight seconds into the contest, Uruguay’s Federico Valverde’s through ball catching him offside.
Juventus had their best chance of the match in the 13th minute, but Leonardo Bonucci’s direct free kick hit the crossbar.
Benzema opened the scoring with a penalty in the 19th, crisply firing into the bottom left corner after Juventus’ Danilo brought down fellow Brazilian Vinicius Junior with a sloppy move in the penalty area.
Amsterdam, Netherlands - PSV Eindhoven defeated Ajax 5-3 to lift the Dutch Super Cup at the Johan Cruyff ArenA in Amsterdam on Saturday with both giants of the Dutch Eredivisie under new management.
Ruud van Nistelrooy took over PSV in May, while Dutch champions Ajax are now coached by Alfred Schreuder, who succeeded Erik ten Hag, the new manager of van Nistelrooy’s former club Manchester United.
A hat-trick from Guus Til with contributions from Cody Gakpo and the new teenaged recruit from Paris Saint-Germain Xavi Simons secured PSV their 13th Super Cup. Ajax’s Steven Bergwijn opened the scoring after quarter of an hour, with Til handing PSV a 2-1 lead at half-time.
Ajax were back level on 54 minutes courtesy of their Brazilian winger Antony before being caught out by goals from Gakpo and Til’s third after the hour mark.