Friendlies: Lukaku injured in Everton win
Romelu Lukaku left with an apparent injury as Ross Barkley and Conor McAleny scored in Everton‘s 2-0 win at Dundee United on Tuesday.
The victory may have come at a cost, however, as Lukaku was substituted after half an hour with what the club called a hamstring injury.
Manager Roberto Martinez downplayed the incident, however, saying Lukaky was removed as a precaution.
“Rom has obviously been playing a lot of minutes and it was important for him to get some sort of action,” Martinez told Everton’s website. “After the first 25 minutes, he was feeling his legs were a little bit too heavy and we didn’t want to take any risks.
“It’s not a problem at all. I think he got a lot of good work between the two games we’ve had up here, plus the games we had in Singapore.
“Now we have got a little period before the weekend to make sure he is ready and refreshed.”
McAleny, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Cardiff, opened the scoring just two minutes in after pouncing on a loose ball at the edge of the box.
Barkley drew a penalty as he raced into the area in the second half and slotted home the spot-kick to double Everton’s lead.
Chelsea beat Barcelona 4-2 on penalty kicks after playing to a 2-2 draw at FedEx Field in Washington, D.C. Eden Hazard opened the scoring for Chelsea with a brilliant individual effort in the 10th minute to give the Blues an early lead.
A poor clearance by Cesar Azpilicueta fell to the feet of Luis Suarez in the box, and the Uruguayan calmly chipped home over Thibaut Courtois to level the score in the 52nd minute.
Sandro finished with a beautiful bending strike in the 66th minute to put Barcelona in front, as the Catalans looked to be cruising to the win. However, Gary Cahill out-jumped Barca’s Jordi Masip in the match’s closing minutes and headed home to level the score and force penalty kicks.
Chelsea were perfect from the spot, with Radamel Falcao, Victor Moses, Ramires and Loic Remy all converting their chances. Barca’s Alen Halilovic missed his opportunity from the spot and Courtois denied Gerard Pique to help secure the International Champions Cup win for Jose Mourinho’s side.
The match marked the end of both teams’ preseason tour of the United States.
West Ham defeated Norwich City 1-0 in a special friendly to commemorate 80 years of football at Carrow Road.
A Harry Toffolo own goal in the 82nd minute was the difference after a wild sequence in the box that saw John Ruddy and Vadis Odjidja miss chances to clear.
The Hammers, in the midst of their Europa League qualifying campaign, pulled most of their regular players after 67 minutes.
Benfica put an end to their three-game losing streak in the International Champions Cup with a penalty win over Liga MX side Club America.
The Primeira Liga champions looked to have broken the deadlock when they were awarded a 16th minute penalty, but Jonas was unable to convert.
Benfica also played the last 20 minutes against 10 men after America’s Gil Buron was sent off, but in the end needed penalties to finally triumph.
Atletico Madrid defeated Real Oviedo 2-0 through goals from Antonie Griezmann and Fernando Torres.
Griezmann finished off a fine pass from Luciano Vietto to open the scoring in the 28th minute.
Torres took advantage of a missed clearance by Oviedo’s new signing Ruben Mino to make the lead comfortable in the 69th minute.
Saido Berahino and Brown Ideye were both on target as West Brom defeated League One side Walsall 2-0.
Berahino was on the scoresheet hours after West Brom used their official Twitter feed to deny that they have received any bid for the striker.
Jamie Vardy scored twice to lift Leicester City to a 2-1 win over Burton Albion.
After Andrej Kramaric and Andy King each hit the post in the first half, Vardy found the net in the 56th minute.
He made it 2-0 with a header seven minutes later, and Mark Duffy’s late consolation goal was not enough for last season’s League Two champions.
Newly promoted Premier League club Watford suffered a 2-1 loss in their meeting with Championship outfit Cardiff City.
Troy Deeney netted for Watford but a brace from Joe Mason secured a triumph for the home side.
Wolves battled back to earn a 2-2 draw in their West Midlands derby against Aston Villa, with kickoff slightly delayed as a large crowd filed in for the teams’ match at Molineux.
Villa took the lead twice through goals from Libor Kozak — the first on a long-range effort of 25 yards following a pass from Alan Hutton. However, Wolves equalised both times to bring the score level at full-time with Mark Bunn and Benik Afobe doing the goalscoring honours for the home side.
With their Premier League opener just over a week away, newly promoted Bournemouth made short work for Yeovil Town in a 3-0 thrashing at Huish Park.
Junior Stanislas scored twice and Joshua King added another as the Cherries progressed through the final matches of their preseason schedule. They begin their season in the top flight with a home match against Aston Villa on Aug. 8.
This entry passed through the Full-Text RSS service – if this is your content and you’re reading it on someone else’s site, please read the FAQ at fivefilters.org/content-only/faq.php#publishers.
