During the season I usually used Friday to look ahead at the weekend’s matches. This time though I’m going to highlight some of the more interesting friendlies of the past week, starting with one that was not so friendly.
Cagliari vs Bastia had to be abandoned when a classic soccer fistfight/flailing match broke out over what looked like a reasonable tackle:
From an unfriendly friendly to an extra friendly friendly, Barcelona took on Valarenga in Oslo where a zealous pitch invader simply wanted to give Ibrahimovic a hug (the tall man seemed happy to receive it).
Manchester United dismantled the MLS Allstars with some pretty nice goals (especially the free kick), but there was some lackluster defence from those Allstars.
The man scoring the last goal, Javier “Chicharito” Hernandez is set to be the new strike partner to Wayne Rooney according to Alex Ferguson (and he would know I guess).
The Red Devils were due for a win after losing a friendly to Kansas City earlier in the week. Nani, who had to miss out on the World Cup due to injury, has always in my opinion been his own greatest enemy. While he’s got undeniable skill he’s more selfish than a young Cristiano Ronaldo, and this quote may explain some of that attitude:
“I played on grass, on the street, everywhere. I played without trainers, that’s why I have one toe broken. I tried to shoot – bang! I was 14 or so. So funny. I’d put the best players against me and the weaker ones with me so I could play alone. I passed to no one.” – Nani
He was back to his juvenile tricks then, all greed and pointless flicks in the KC friendly:
To end off, Benfica played Monaco in a game thats about as exciting as a pointless friendly can be. Benfica went up early, only to lose the lead to Monaco before the break. Thats when Aimar stepped up and scored a wonder strike to tie the game and inspire his team to go on and win 3-2:
You know you hit it well when the camera guy can’t keep up with it 
Are you starting a fantasy league on premierleague.com? If so what’s the join code?
That Italian (obviously) soccer brawl is pretty intense, there’s actually a lot of pretty violent stuff going on if you look closely.
Also, I think that fan was trying to make a statement about Ibrahimovic staying in Barcelona. I honestly don’t think they need him though.
And that Aimar goal was sweet. He sets so many people up, don’t think I’ve ever seen him score.