COLUMBUS, Ohio, Sporting Alert – Three quality pre-season games on the schedule for Wednesday as the International Champions Cup friendly tournament continues with battles in the USA.
A pair of English Premier League sides, Chelsea and Liverpool, as well as Real Madrid, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich and AC Milan will all be in action on Wednesday night, with ESPN and ESPN2 providing the live broadcasting.
WatchESPN will stream each live online, while livescore is at www.livescore.com. For ticket purchase visit Ticketmaster.com
REAL MADRID v PSG
In Columbus, Ohio, the European champions Real Madrid will take on French champs Paris Saint-Germain, with kick-off for this game at 7:30pm, but the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Gareth Bale will not be featuring.
The clash will see PSG boss Unai Emery, who revealed that he’s been inspired by the likes of Pep Guardiola, Diego Simeone and Marcelo Bielsa, taking on one of his footballing heroes, Zinedine Zidane, the manager at Real Madrid.
“With Real Madrid and, in this case, Zidane, two great footballing icons are brought together,” Emery told reporters in a conference. “Real Madrid because of their history as a club and Zidane because of the great footballer he was.
“Logically, translating all of that into the role of a coach is not easy and the first works of Zidane, with that title in the Champions League, show there is a continuity in his work as coach from what he was as a player.
“He is at a great club in Real Madrid, one of the best clubs in the world, he was one of the best players in the world and possibly, with the work he is carrying out, he may also be one of the best coaches in the world.”
Despite praising his opposition ahead of the clash, Emery, who won three straight Europa League titles with Sevilla, is ready to show that he too is a good tactician.
The 44-year-old Spaniard replaced Frenchman Laurent Blanc as PSG manager at the end of last season.
Meanwhile, centre-back Raphael Varane, who reportedly said he rejected a move to Manchester United to fight for his place at Real Madrid, is hoping to have a strong pre-season, as he seeks to impress his manager in his push to split-up the pairing of Sergio Ramos and Pepe, who played most of the last campaign in the heart of the defence.
“I’ve chosen to stay here because I want to be here and I want to be in Madrid,” Varane said.
“The best players are here, everything is here for me to keep improving and I’m really enthusiastic about improving. The best is still ahead of me.”
Elsewhere in the International Champions Cup on Wednesday, Premier League sides Chelsea and Liverpool will meet in Pasadena, CA, while Bayern Munich will take on AC Milan in Chicago, IL.
