Marcelo stars as Real Madrid beat Chelsea 3-2
Real Madrid's Brazilian left back Marcelo scored a double and set up Madrid's third as they beat Chelsea 3-2.
Real Madrid's star of the show: Marcelo
Real Madrid are missing the BBC, but they've found an unlikely top scorer in their US tour: Marcelo. He's the star of the show in the land of the stars and stripes, Real Madrid's Captain America. Yesterday he blew Chelsea away in the first half in Ann Arbor, with two stunning goals, before setting up Mariano for a fine third.
Near record crowd in Ann Arbor for Real Madrid - Chelsea
A near-record crowd of 105,826 were in the Michigan stadium, 4,000 shy of the United States record attendance for a football match, set two years ago at the same stadium in Ann Arbor when 109,318 watched Real Madrid and Manchester United square off.
The crowd turned up even though Real Madrid were without stars Karim Benzema, out with a hip ailment, Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale, who both have been given time off after Euro 2016.
Zidane wanted improvement from PSG defeat
Zizou had said he wanted to see something different from Real Madrid's sluggish performance in their defeat to PSG (3-1) and he did. Zidane didn't risk Ramos, Modric and James on the sodden pitch, while he gave Carvajal a run out, Asensio free rein (who did well) and experimented with Mariano, who scored a cracker.
Madrid dominated the first half, helped by Conte deciding to play Begovic instead of Courtois and giving 19 year right back Ola Aina an opportunity, which he won't remember fondly as Marcelo, Asensio and Lucas Vázquez gave him a torrid time.
Hazard pulls two back for Chelsea
In the second half Madrid lost much of their spark and gave the ball away to Chelsea, to see if they wanted to do something with it. Chelsea in general struggled, somewhat rigid in their system, but they did manage to claw two goals back, both from Hazard, one of Zidane's favourites in the game. The mistakes that led to Chelsea's goals will give Real Madrid some cause for concern, even given they were coasting along with little time left to play.
Madrid just have Bayern left to play before the Super Cup
Madrid have now played two of their three games before the UEFA Super Cup without offering any real clues as to what to expect from them on 9 August in Trondheim against Sevilla. Maybe we'll learn more against Bayern on Wednesday. What is certain is that Marcelo has every chance of being top scorer. Who'd have guessed that?
