Europe's finest get friendly

Smith miss
A 58,121 crowd gathered at Soldier Field to see FC Bayern München defeat Manchester United FC 4-2 on penalties following a goalless draw in Chicago. Alan Smith, signed for €10.5m, was one of two United players to miss in the shoot-out. Another new recruit, Chelsea FC's Mateja Kezman, scored twice as the Londoners opened the Champions World Series with a 4-2 win against Celtic FC in Seattle on Saturday.

Eight venues
Iceland's Eidur Gudjohnsen and Russian international Aleksei Smertin added Chelsea's other goals while Craig Beattie struck twice for the Scottish champions. The series features eleven friendly matches at eight venues across the United States, involving clubs from England, Italy, Scotland, Portugal, Germany and Turkey. Three more Champions League entrants - AS Roma, FC Porto and Liverpool FC - will also take part.

Centenary celebrations
Two teams who will compete in the third qualifying round, Real Madrid CF and SL Benfica, drew 2-2 in Lisbon yesterday. Madrid coach José Antonio Camacho, who guided Benfica to the Portuguese Cup last season, fielded newly-signed Argentinian international defender Walter Samuel in a fixture which marked the end of the Portuguese side's centenary celebrations. Zlatko Zahovic and Geovanni scored for Benfica, with Ronaldo and the returning Fernando Morientes on target for Madrid.

Two for Elber
The automatic qualifiers from France both had tough games, as Ligue 1 winners Olympique Lyonnais surrendered a three-goal lead against German champions SV Werder Bremen, and Paris Saint-Germain FC lost 1-0 to Juventus FC. A goal from Péguy Luyindula and two Giovane Elber strikes put Lyon in control at Rapperswil, Switzerland, on Saturday before Bremen hit back through Tim Borowski and two goals from Ivan Klasnic.

'We deserved better'
Marcelo Zalayeta scored the only goal as Juve triumphed at Evry-Bondoufle near Paris. "We deserved better," said PSG coach Vahid Halilhodzic, while Fabio Capello said of his team's performance: "We wasted a number of good opportunities but we will improve with time." Last season's French runners-up, AS Monaco FC, drew their fourth successive friendly, 1-1 against AS Saint-Etienne, while old boy Dado Pršo hit a sensational winner as Rangers FC beat Fulham FC 1-0.

Crespo opener
Hernán Crespo, on loan at AC Milan from Chelsea, opened the scoring as the Rossoneri eased to a 5-0 victory against Serie C2 side AC Legnano. Andriy Shevchenko (2), Cafu and Andrea Pirlo were the other marksmen. Milan's city rivals FC Internazionale were also in goalscoring form as they found the net four times against Shangai International of China.

Fine football
Arsenal FC signing Robin van Persie was the matchwinner in a 2-1 victory at Grazer AK in Austria, while Porto newcomer Ricardo Quaresma opened the scoring and Derlei completed it as the Champions League holders overcame FC Voldendam 2-0, a success which followed an 8-0 triumph against ADO'20 on Thursday. Dutch champions AFC Ajax won 4-0 against English side Luton Town FC, while Greek champions Panathinaikos FC beat NK Mura 1-0 in Slovenia, Joel Epalle the scorer.

Asian tour
Bayer 04 Leverkusen won 45-minute matches against SC Rot-Weiss Essen and 1. FC Dynamo Dresden. Fenerbahçe SK were also in action in Germany, drawing 2-2 against 1. FC Köln. Rubén Castro took his tally of pre-season goals to eight as RC Deportivo La Coruña beat CF Palencia 5-0 to claim the III Ramón Fernández trophy at the weekend, while FC Barcelona have flown to Asia today for a 15-day tour.