Weah off the mark as Juventus down Madrid

United States international Timothy Weah scored the first goal of his Juventus career as the Italian giants defeated Real Madrid 3-1 in a pre-season friendly in Florida on Wednesday.

Weah, who joined Juventus from Lille last month, tucked away a close-range finish after collecting a pass from U.S. team-mate Weston McKennie to give the Serie A side a 2-0 lead after 20 minutes in front of a sell-out 63,503 crowd in Orlando.

McKennie, who spent the second half of last season on loan at Premier League club Leeds where he struggled to make an impact, also had a hand in his team's opening goal which came inside the first 60 seconds.

Neat approach play led to McKennie curling a shot against the foot of the post, with Moise Kean on hand to turn in the rebound.

Real Madrid, who once again started new signing Jude Bellingham, were slow to get into the contest but eventually pulled a goal back seven minutes before half-time through Brazil international Vinicius Jr. 

A superb ball from Toni Kroos sent Vinicius bearing down on the Juventus goal, and the striker calmly lifted his finish over Wojciech Szczesny to score.

Real chased an equalizer in a disjointed second half, before Dusan Vlahovic made the game safe for Juventus deep into stoppage time.

Wednesday's game was Real's final pre-season fixture before they kick off their La Liga campaign against Athletic Bilbao on August 12. 

Juventus meanwhile will now return to Italy to prepare for their season-opener against Udinese on August 20.

rcw/des