Weekend friendlies round up.
Aberdeen 0-2 Manchester United: Wayne Rooney was on top form as Manchester United beat Aberdeen 2-0 at Pittodrie in their first game of pre-season. The tie was set-up to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Sir Alex Ferguson's Aberdeen side winning the European Cup Winners Cup, but there was no sentimentality on show as both sides contributed to an entertaining encounter. Aberdeen put in a fine first-half performance, and were unfortunate to see Darren Mackie have a good effort disallowed for offside. However, the decisive moment came on the stroke of half-time when Rooney was brought down in the area by keeper Jamie Langfield. Michael Carrick stepped up and made no mistake to put his side a goal up. The Dons continued to have chances as the second period wore on, but United always looked to have the measure of their opponents, and Rooney sealed the win twenty minutes from time with a powerful header from Darren Fletcher's cross. The match was a satisfying start to pre-season for Ferguson, who gave early run-outs to first-teamers such as Rio Ferdinand, Wes Brown, Paul Scholes and Gary Neville.
Tranmere Rovers 0-1 Liverpool: Yossi Benayoun scored the only goal of the game as Liverpool also got their pre-season off to a successful start with a comfortable win at local rivals Tranmere Rovers. Despite the slender scoreline, the visitors dominated much of this game, with Daniel Agger looking solid on his return back from injury and new-boy Daniel Pacheco putting in an impressive debut. However, it was one of last year's signings who made the difference, as Benayoun looped home a cracker two minutes from the break. Steven Gerrard, Sami Hyypia and Jamie Carragher also made appearances, while new signings Diego Cavalieri and Philipp Degen came on at half-time, in this promising pre-season start for Rafa's men.
FC Zurich 2-1 Aston Villa: Aston Villa's preparations for next week's Intertoto Cup game took a knock as they were beaten 2-1 by Swiss side FC Zurich. Martin O'Neill handed a debut to Steve Sidwell, but his side fell behind just four minutes in when Martin Laursen brought down Florian Stahel in the area, allowing Almen Abdi to fire home from the spot. Gabriel Agbonlahor's low drive brought the Villains level in the 17th minute, but another penalty brought on defeat, with Abdi striking home again from the spot after Zat Knight had brought down Admir Mehmedi 11 minutes from the end.
FC Sion 1-0 Everton: Everton also tasted defeat in Switzerland as they were beaten 1-0 by FC Sion. With Tim Howard and many of his African stars still to return from their summer holidays, David Moyes started with a largely inexperienced side, which featured only Phil Neville, Phil Jagielka, Nuno Valente and Joleon Lescott from the first team. The Toffees' second-stringers gave a solid performance, with youngsters Kieran Agard and Jose Baxter enjoying some fine chances, but they fell to defeat thanks to Didier Crettenand's neat finish just before the hour mark.
