PHILADELPHIA, 5 August 2003 — Manchester United ended their preseason tour of the US with a 3-1 victory over Barcelona yesterday.
Barcelona flourished early on as new signing Ronaldinho, who turned down a move to the English champions, stroked the ball around with typical Brazilian flair and imagination despite being booed by the United faithful before the start.
United manager Alex Ferguson rested strikers Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Also missing from the line-up was Argentina midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron, a transfer target for Chelsea.
Without those three, United appeared lacking in ideas for the opening exchanges.
Ronaldinho’s running reaped dividends in the ninth minute when he lofted a perfectly weighted cross for Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert to head past Tim Howard, United’s new American goalkeeper.
But, despite further Barcelona pressure, United leveled after 25 minutes. Winger Ryan Giggs found space on the left and crossed for an unmarked Diego Forlan to beat keeper Victor Valdes with a diving header.
United, spurred on by skipper Roy Keane, went ahead 11 minutes later when Nicky Butt’s center from the right took a deflection and man of the match Forlan pounced to score his second goal.
Barcelona came out for the second half without Ronaldinho and Kluivert. United made two changes after 52 minutes, bringing on David Bellion for Darren Fletcher and van Nistelrooy for Uruguayan Forlan.
Van Nistelrooy produced a goal of individual brilliance after 85 minutes. Battling with Barcelona defenders after losing a tussle in midfield, the striker won the ball back and beat two men before rounding the keeper to score.
United made it four wins out of four on the tour. They had also beaten Celtic 4-1, Mexico’s Club America 3-1 and Juventus 4-1. Ferguson told reporters he was delighted with the trip. “Everything has been great and we’re looking forward to the start of the season,” he said.
“It took us some time to get going really,” he said of Sunday’s game. “But by the end of the (first) half I thought we were in control and I thought we should have scored more goals.”
Juventus Take Revenge on Milan in Another Shootout
In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Juventus won the Italian Super Cup with a 5-3 penalty shootout victory over European Cup holders AC Milan after a fiercely competitive match had ended 1-1 after extra time on Sunday.
Juventus defender Ciro Ferrara beat Milan keeper Christian Abbiati from the spot to complete the win after man-of-the-match Gianluigi Buffon had parried Milan midfielder Cristian Brocchi’s penalty.
However, it was the silver-goal extra time which provided most drama for the 54,128-strong crowd at Giants stadium as Marcello Lippi’s side earned a modicum of revenge for their defeat, also in a penalty shootout, to Milan in the European Champions League final in May.
The Rossoneri thought they had won it when, following a foul by Alessio Tacchinardi on Massimo Ambrosini, midfielder Andrea Pirlo converted a cheeky penalty past Buffon in the 15th minute of the first extra time period.
But wild celebrations were cut short just seconds later when, straight from the restart, David Trezeguet turned home a rebound from close range to force a second period of extra time.
The 90 minutes had started brightly, with France striker Trezeguet twice forcing smart saves from Abbiati with first half headers.
Striker Filippo Inzaghi wasted Milan’s best chance of the first half, heading over from Andrij Shevchenko’s cross, while Buffon turned away a low drive from Brocchi late on.
Ajax Sink Inter, Gerrard Off as Liverpool Lose
In Amsterdam, hosts Ajax Amsterdam beat Inter Milan 3-0 on Sunday to win the Amsterdam tournament for the third consecutive year.
Steven Pienaar, Rafael van der Vaart and Wamberto hit Ajax’s goals in an impressive performance by Ronald Koeman’s side.
Earlier, Liverpool had England midfielder Steven Gerrard and striker Neil Mellor sent off in a 2-1 defeat by Turkey’s Galatasaray.
Ajax, who drew 0-0 with Liverpool on Friday, went ahead four minutes into the second half when Van der Vaart fed Pienaar and the South African fired past Francesco Toldo.
Seven minutes later Van der Vaart increased the lead. Ajax’s 20-year-old captain gave Toldo no chance after Pienaar knocked back a cross from substitute Jari Litmanen.
Former Ajax winger Andy van der Meyde, who signed for Inter earlier this month, went close to pulling a goal back but fired narrowly over from a good position.
Wamberto put the gloss on the win when he was unselfishly set up by Van der Vaart to net a third in stoppage time.
Ajax were deemed winners of the tournament with rules giving three points for a win, one for a draw and a point for every goal scored.
Galatasaray secured victory over Liverpool with two well-taken goals as the English premier league side finished the game with nine men, Mellor and Gerrard dismissed in the last five minutes of a bad-tempered game.
Mellor was handed a straight red card for clattering into Gabriel Tamas, while Gerrard followed 60 seconds later for dissent.
Liverpool boss Gerard Houllier said he did not expect either player to be banned because the match was a friendly.
Brazilian midfielder Joao Batista had fired the Turkish side on 21 minutes ahead before England striker Emile Heskey equalized with a header on 36. Cesar Prates thumped home the winner six minutes before halftime with a superb free kick.
