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Saturday, July 28, 2007

Preseason results : Arsenal, Spurs, Barca win - Chelsea slump

A busy Saturday afternoon for European clubs as the pre-season takes on a more serious turn - especially for those clubs who are building to qualifying matches in the Champions League.

In North London, Arsenal beat PSG 2-1 with goals from Mathieu Flamini and Niklas Bendtner in the Emirates Cup, while Valencia beat Inter Milan 2-0 perhaps showing their more advanced focus on results.

In Scotland, English clubs found it tough to get a result as Rangers upset Chelsea 2-0 with two late goals to Nacho Novo (86) and Filip Sebo (87) - which will be a great boost to the Glasgow club as they face a Champions League 2nd round match against FK Zeta this week.

And Hiberian beat Middlesbrough 1-0 thanks to a last minute winner from Ross Campbell - as Hibs added another scalp to the 3-0 win over Bolton on Wednesday.

Spanish giants Barcelona had no such problems, with Barca beating Hearts 3-1 in front6 of over 57,000 fans at Murrayfield with Ronaldinho scoring twice in the first half.

In Belgium, Charleroi beat Manchester City 2-0 as Sven found it harder to win outside Sweden, although in truth City bossed much of the match but lacked sharpness in front of goal.

Other games saw Premier league clubs stroll to wins against lowly opposition with Sunderland beating Bohemians 1-0, West Ham winning 3-1 at Southend, Birmingham scoring a 2-0 win over Walsall and Spurs beat Orlando Pirates 3-0 somewhere in Africa.