Las Vegas (AFP)
Italian Juventus welcomed the return of its French midfielder Paul Pogba, and beat Mexico’s Chivas Guadalajara 2-0, in a friendly in Las Vegas, as part of his American summer tour.
World champion Pogba joined Juventus this month on a free contract, coming from Manchester United, who joined him with a record deal in 2016 amounting to 105 million euros.
The 29-year-old was a key member of coach Massimiliano Allegri’s squad at Allegiant Stadium, home of the Las Vegas Raiders of American football.
Young Marco da Graca was the first to score for the “Old Lady” team from close range in the tenth minute, after Federico Gatti’s header after a corner kicked off the post.
Mattia Compagion added the second in the 80th minute, after a solo effort by Thomas Barbieri.
To the arrivals, Pogba and Gatti, the two new players participated in the ranks of the “Bianconeri”, Argentine winger Angel Di Maria, and Brazilian defender Gleason Bremer.
Allegri is counting on his new players, to compensate for the departure of veteran defender Giorgio Chiellini, recently contracted with Los Angeles FC, Argentine striker Paulo Dybala, who has moved to Rome, and late Dutch defender Matthijs de Ligt to Bayern Munich.
After winning the league title nine times in a row, Juventus failed in the last two seasons, when Inter was crowned, and then its neighbor Milan, with the “Scudetto” title, finished fourth last season and lost the cup final against Inter.
“It is our duty to win this year, after winning ten years in a row, last season was the first without titles, so we are obligated to win,” said Allegri, who returns to coach Juventus in Vegas.
Juventus dominated in the first half, with chances for Di Maria, Pogba and Nicolo Fagoli, while Polish goalkeeper Szczesny saved his goal from a shot by Carlos Cisneros before the half-time of the match.
After a number of substitutions, Juventus seemed less cohesive in the second half, but expanded the difference at the end of the match, to win a promising start to his tour that includes two duels with Barcelona at the Cotton Bowl in Dallas and the other Spanish pole Real Madrid at the Rose Bowl near Los Los Angeles.
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