Pre-season is almost over and the 2022-23 campaign is nearly upon us.
Barcelona beating Real Madrid 1-0, Manchester United beating Liverpool 4-0 and Arsenal beating Chelsea 4-0 in this summer’s friendlies have made us all sit up and take notice. However, it’s worth taking any such results with a massive heap of salt.
Here are eight results that show we can read far too much into pre-season friendlies.
Real Madrid 1-0 Plymouth Argyle (2006)
We’re mostly including this one for the weirdness factor.
The story goes that Plymouth booked the Schloss Pichlarn hotel. Fabio Capello was desperate for Madrid to stay at his venue of choice, so he arranged a friendly with the second-tier outfit to get the booking.
“Who are they to move us? I don’t like it myself. We’re Argyle, get out of our way!” joked Holloway before the friendly.
“We’ll leave something on a few of them and I don’t think they’ll like that too much! It’ll be something my lads will never forget.
“Whatever side they put out, they will have some great players. It’s a fantastic opportunity for us – a once-in-a-lifetime experience.”
Madrid did actually win, but they weren’t especially convincing in Capello’s first match in charge, only scoring via a dubiously-awarded penalty late on. A creditable and competitive performance against European royalty might have suggested Argyle were on the cusp of a special season.
Capello’s Los Blancos swiftly improved and went on to reclaim the La Liga title back off European champions Barcelona, while Plymouth finished 11th in the Championship.
What a classic fixture ⚽️…Real Madrid v Plymouth 12 years ago! @Only1Argyle #pafc #halamadrid pic.twitter.com/hiCToTyErh
— David Norris (@DMNorris19) July 23, 2018
Tottenham 5-0 Roma (2008)
The result itself is striking but it also capped off a superb and unbeaten pre-season for Spurs, who won seven of their eight friendlies and appeared to have real momentum after lifting the League Cup earlier that year.
Darren Bent and David Bentley scored two apiece, with Aaron Lennon adding another, as Tottenham demolished an excellent Roma side that featured the likes of Philippe Mexes, John Arne Riise and Daniele De Rossi.
“Juande Ramos’s Spurs side sent out a clear warning to the rest of the Premier League today with a convincing five-goal win against Serie A runners-up, and Italian Cup-winners Roma,” began the match report on the Spurs Odyssey fansite.
What happened next? They…
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