Reigning Champions League and La Liga champion Real Madrid concluded a pre-season US tour on Tuesday with a 2-1 triumph over Chelsea while AC Milan won on penalties after playing Barcelona to a 2-2 draw.
There were 62,617 spectators at the home stadium of the NFL’s Carolina Panthers in Charlotte, North Carolina to watch Vinicius Junior make his first start in the warm-up matches for Real Madrid’s La Liga opener in 12 days.
Spanish midfielder Dani Ceballos knocked a right-footed shot into the bottom left corner in the 19th minute to give Real a 1-0 lead.
Brahim Diaz fired in a left-footed kick from a difficult angle in the 27th minute to double the Spanish side’s lead, sliding the ball from the left just inside the backline and across the empty goal into the far right side.
English striker Noni Madueke answered in the 39th minute with a header from the right side of the six-yard box, but Chelsea could not manage an equalizer.
In the other club friendly match, AC Milan and Barcelona played to a 2-2 draw in Baltimore before the Italian side won 4-3 on penalties.
Luka Jovic scored in the 10th minute off an assist from Christian Pulisic, and Pulisic himself scoring from a difficult angle in the 15th minute from the left side into the top right corner to give the Italian side a 2-0 edge.
Poland’s Robert Lewandowski answered for Barcelona in the 22nd minute and netted the equalizer in the 58th minute.
Real Madrid is recognised as the greatest football club of the 20th century by FIFA and as the best European club during the same timeframe by the IFFHS, while receiving the FIFA Centennial Order of Merit in 2004. Real Madrid has the highest participations in the European Cup/Champions League in which they hold the overall record for the most wins and most goals scored. Real Madrid is the only club to have won three consecutive titles (three-peat) in the European Cup/Champions League twice, first in 1955–56, 1956–57, and 1957–58, and second in 2015–16, 2016–17 and 2017–18. In June 2024, they won a record-extending 15th Champions League title (the fifth in nine seasons), recognised as such by Guinness World Records.[36] Real Madrid is the first club across all of Europe’s top-five leagues to win 100 trophies in all competitions. As of July 2024, Real Madrid are ranked 2nd in the UEFA club rankings and first in last 10 years (2013–2023) overall
