SportsPre-Season Roundup: Kelechi Iheanacho Scores In Leicester's Draw Game; Giroud Debuts With...

Pre-Season Roundup: Kelechi Iheanacho Scores In Leicester’s Draw Game; Giroud Debuts With Goal

August 01, (THEWILL) – While Napoli’s Victor Osimhen is on a goal-scoring drive in his side’s pre-season matches, having scored seven in three games so far, the goals have been hard to come by for his Super Eagles teammate and Leicester City forward, Kelechi Iheanacho.

Not only has the Foxes’ striker been unable to find the net in regulation time of their pre-season games, in post-match penalty shootouts against League One side Burton, Iheanacho skied his own kick sealing the loss of the FA Cup holders in the 2021 Bass Charity Vase. But, on Saturday, Iheanacho’s fortune changed.

Below, THEWILL rounds up that change of fortune and the other matches that were played on Saturday in continuation of the pre-season preparations for the upcoming domestic and European challenges.

Glo

Queens Park Rangers 3 – 3 Leicester

For the entire Leicester City team, it was third-time lucky against QPR at the Kiyan Prince Foundation Stadium. They scored their first goals of the pre-season campaign after firing blanks in the two previous games.

Though they drew, scoring the first goals of the season was very welcome indeed. Also encouraging were different aspects of the general performance. In their final pre-season game, QPR battled Leicester City as they did in beating Manchester United earlier.

A first half strike from Charlie Austin and second half efforts from defensive duo Yoann Barbet and Rob Dickie ensured Rangers remained undefeated during the warmup games, as preparations for the Sky Bet Championship opener against Millwall cranked up another notch.

When keeper Seny Dieng brought Leicester goal-scorer Patson Daka down in the box, referee James Linington pointed to the spot. That was Iheanacho’s opportunity to redeem himself and he did to level the scores and keep his side from a second straight loss.

Manchester City 4 – 0 Barnsley

Pep Guardiola’s City produced a fine performance to win their second pre-season friendly of the week with a 4-0 victory over Championship side Barnsley. Goals from Sam Edozie, Ben Knight and Riyad Mahrez saw City go in at half-time 3-0 up after a blistering first 45 minutes.

Playmaker Kevin De Bruyne watched on from the stands as Nathan Ake fired in City’s fourth after a clever backheel from Pablo Moreno in the second half for an interesting but less thrilling end to the contest.

With renewed City interest in Jack Grealish and Harry Kane, Mahrez has decidedly stepped up to stake his claim to a starting lineup. And, behind closed doors against Barnsley, he laid on two and scored a brilliant third himself.

VfB Stuttgart 0 – 3 Barcelona

At the Mercedes-Benz-Arena in Stuttgart, Barca showed clear signings of improvement in terms of match fitness, even in the absence of a few veterans.

The Catalans were able to control the match almost in its entirety, switching the gears, slow in control, fast on counters, depending on the situation.

The goals they scored were as varied as it gets. Memphis Depay broke the deadlock to continue his blending in the team, with a brilliant long ball from Frenkie de Jong, Yusuf Demir got his goal as a result of a great combination down the left flank while Riqui Puig put it to bed after a calm finish following a counter-attack.

Nice 1 – 1 AC Milan

Ex-Chelsea striker Olivier Giroud opened his Milan account as the Serie A team secured a 1-1 draw against Nice earlier this evening in what was their third pre-season friendly. The overall performance was decent from the Rossoneri but there are still some things to work on.

Nice took the lead in the second half but that was quickly cancelled out by Giroud, who scored a header just minutes after coming on. It was a fantastic debut for the Frenchman but there were no other goals.

It was a good performance but short of the 5-0 thumping that the Milan team handed to Modena in their previous pre-season last Saturday.

About the Author

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Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

Jude Obafemi, THEWILLhttps://thewillnews.com
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.

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