Real Madrid’s pre-season got off to a less-than-ideal start as they came undone against a much sharper, fitter Paris Saint-Germain.
The European champions kicked off their pre-season tour of the United States with a 3-1 loss at the hands of the French champions as Zinedine Zidane got a first look at his team in a match-day environment in pre-season.
In front of 86,000 fans in Ohio, the French champions made it three wins in friendlies for new coach Unai Emery as a first-half brace from Thomas Meunier and a Nanitamo Ikoné strike saw off a Madrid side that were without most of their first-team players although first-choice left-back Marcelo scored from the penalty spot.
Gareth Bale, Cristiano Ronaldo, Luka Modric, James Rodriguez and Pepe didn’t feature as Zinedine Zidane decided to play give some fringe players a chance in the first half before making 11 changes in the second, bringing on a team full of youngsters, including his son Enzo and Martin Odegaard.
The returning Alvaro Morata slotted straight into the sole-striking role in his first appearance since leaving Juventus, as Zidane’s first-half XI also included Isco, Rafael Varane and Jese Rodriguez.
PSG coach Unai Emery was overseeing the club’s third pre-season friendly after beating West Brom 2-1 and Inter 3-1 in their ICC opener on Sunday.
Thiago Silva, Javier Pastore, Lucas Moura and Edinson Cavani all started for PSG as Emery looked to step up the pace.
The youthful Madrid side performed confidently, outperforming their elders by holding a very experienced PSG side to a 0-0 in the final 45 minutes.
And proceedings got off to a perfect start as teenager Ikone tore through the Madrid defence, who struggled to muster a tackle on the 18-year-old, to score the opener before the contest was two minutes old, dribbling past a four helpless defenders before slotting the ball past Francisco Casilla in the Madrid goals.
Emery’s men took just two minutes to stamp their authority on the game when Ikoné burst through a very flimsy tackle from Marcelo before calmly finishing into the bottom corner.
Silva was substituted with an injury after just 10 minutes, following a poor challenge he committed and received a yellow card for, with Meunier coming on to replace him.
While the right-back’s introduction was forced, it proved an inspired one as he thrashed in an amazing strike after 34 minutes following another terrible turnover from the Madrid defence as they looked to play the ball out from the back.
Meunier gave Madrid no time to react as he lashed a strike beyond Casilla before he could even move to double PSG’s advantage, and he would make it 3-0 not long after as he capitalised on more terrible defending to nudge the ball home after a scrap in the Madrid penalty area.
Marcelo scored Madrid’s first-half consolation as the opening 45 minutes drew to a close, converting a penalty following a defensive handball to deny Kevin Trapp a clean sheet.
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