Football fans usually dread the two-month summer break between seasons and have to keep themselves entertained by following the transfer activity of their clubs. This year, the Copa American Centenario and Euro 2016 helped fill up a chunk of the gap.
Now, while fans may be waiting for the new season to begin in August, some of Europe's big clubs are already in action in pre-season, playing in the International Champions Cup (ICC).
This year saw the fourth instalment of the ICC, a brainchild of Stephen Ross, who owns the National Football League's (NFL) Miami Dolphins franchise along with Matt Higgins. With an eye on creating a Uefa Champions League-styled non-competitive tournament during the pre-season, he has got Europe's top clubs to participate this year.
The clubs see this as an opportunity to showcase their newly acquired talent and, in the process, expand their brand value on foreign shores. Starting off as a United States and Canada event, the calendar includes China and Australia now: teams will take turns to visit the four continents.
The format has been given quite a few tweaks since its inception. Though many of the big clubs don't field their A-listers, there has been no shortage of interest: the Manchester United-Real Madrid game in 2014 witnessed an astounding 1,09,318-strong crowd turning up at the Michigan stadium.
Here is a round-up of some of the recently concluded games in the 2016 ICC.
Liverpool 0-1 Chelsea
New Chelsea manager Antonio Conte laid down the marker for things to come at Chelsea by stifling Liverpool in Pasadena, US. A solitary Gary Cahill goal proved to be the difference between the two English sides. It was off-field issues that dominated pre-match talks for the Reds. Defender Mamadou Sakho was sent back home by coach Jurgen Klopp, citing disciplinary issues. With the Manchester clubs grabbing the spotlight in the transfer window, Conte could focus on the task ahead.
It took only 10 minutes for the Blues to break the deadlock. Cahill thumped in a header from a corner, latching on to Cesc Fabregas's inch-perfect delivery. The were no prisoners spared in some of the challenges, and by half-time, as many as four players had gone into the referee's book. There was a flurry of yellow cards on the other side of halftime too. Fabregas got his marching orders towards the end of the game. With Conte's 4-2-4 seamlessly switching to a 5-3-2 without the ball, the spaces between were few and far between.
Real Madrid 1-3 PSG
Zinedine Zidane oversaw a miserable pre-season start for Real Madrid, which saw his side succumb to a fluent Paris Saint-Germain in Ohio, US. Things could not have got any better for new PSG coach Unai Emery.
The young side he put out were lively and full of pace, sealing the game within the first half. This game saw Alvaro Morata starting for the European Champions for the first time since his return to his boyhood club. But it was PSG's 18-year-old winger Nanitamo Ikone who opened the scoring in only the second minute of the game through a fortuitous goal after a run ripping through the Real backline.
The goals kept coming and it was another new signing, Thomas Meunier, who stole the show: the Belgian cracked a long-ranger and followed it up with another quality finish just a minute later. Marcelo converted a penalty late for Real, but PSG held on to their lead.
AC Milan 3-3 Bayern Munich (Milan win on penalties 5-3)
Over in Chicago, AC Milan were rank outsiders against Bayern Munich, who had two World Cup winners in their starting XI. After playing out a thrilling 3-3 draw, it was penalties that decided the contest, and the Italian giants who prevailed.
If there were any question marks over Frank Ribery's quality, they were put to rest in this encounter, which swung back and forth. The Frenchman got two goals, but it was the young Italians who made a mark, clawing back into the game from 1-2 down. Milan restored their lead in the second half before conceding a penalty in the dying minutes of the game.
The penalty shootout witnessed some excellent conversions from both sides. Milan's Juraj Kucka's delicious panenka penalty stood out. Rafinha's effort was stopped by 17-year-old goalie Gianluigi Donnarumma. Milan won the encounter after Giacomo Bonaventura netted the decisive spot-kick.
