Jovetic shines as Manchester City put five past Milan

Milan were humiliated 5-1 by Manchester City, as Pippo Inzaghi suffered another heavy American defeat.

The Guinness International Champions Cup continued in Pittsburgh, as Inzaghi hoped for better after a 3-0 mauling by Olympiacos. Mario Balotelli faced his former club, but started from the bench with Sulley Muntari wearing the captain’s armband.

Stephan El Shaarawy and M’Baye Niang created dangerous situations, but Stevan Jovetic blasted Manchester City into the lead at the near post on a Jesus Navas through ball.

Within 120 seconds it was 2-0, as again Milan were cut open down the right by Gael Clichy, Adil Rami allowed Alex Sinclair to turn and fire under the bar from 10 yards.

Milan, who are two weeks behind in pre-season training, wasted a promising move when El Shaarawy couldn’t get on the end of a Mattia De Sciglio assist.

Navas gave City a third with the aid of good fortune, as his volley from the edge of the box took a huge deflection off Andrea Poli to wrong-foot Michael Agazzi at the near post.

As they did against Olympiacos, Milan folded in the American heat. Agazzi should have done better, getting a hand to the Kelechi Ihenacho toe-poke, but unable to keep it out.

Alex tried a diving header on a set play, but didn’t make contact with the ball, though El Shaarawy did on De Sciglio’s cross and forced a save.

Captain Muntari pulled one back before the break. Alex knocked down a corner for the Ghanaian to bundle in at the back post. Inzaghi hired a set-piece specialist this summer and it seemed to pay off in that instance.

There was a 20-minute delay for the second half due to a thunderstorm in Philadelphia, forcing fans and players to flee.

Balotelli came off the bench and had the ball in the net, but was correctly flagged offside on the tap-in.

Instead, City got their fifth and Jovetic’s second, as he showed quick feet to ride a Rami tackle and turn in from six yards.

Niang intercepted a pass to go on the counter, but lost his cool one-on-one with Willy Caballero and prodded the finish straight at the goalkeeper. Philippe Mexes saw his volley charged down and Riccardo Saponara nodded over from an Ignazio Abate cross.

There was time for a brief run-out from 16-year-old talent Hachim Mastour, but overall another embarrassing US outing for the Rossoneri.

In other matches summer signing Diego Costa found the net on his Chelsea debut as they came from behind to secure a 2-1 pre-season friendly win over Slovenian side Olimpija Ljubljana.

Fellow new arrival Cesc Fabregas also featured in Jose Mourinho’s side for the first time in Sunday's clash at the Stozice Stadium, and it was his through ball which allowed Costa to cancel out Nik Kapun’s 40th-minute opener with an emphatic finish.

The 25-year-old, who penned a five-year deal from Atletico Madrid this summer, raced onto Fabregas’ pin-point pass and fired into the roof of the net in the 55th minute.

Kurt Zouma then added a second from close range on 63 minutes, after Fernando Torres’ strike was parried into his path for a simple tap-in.

Branislav Ivanovic thought he had made it three, only for his effort to eventually be ruled out, while Torres himself missed a glaring opportunity when he diverted Nathan Ake’s left-wing cross wide from inside the six-yard box.

Gylfi Sigurdsson shone in his first Swansea outing since returning to the club as Garry Monk's men won 4-0 at Plymouth.

The Iceland international midfielder, who had a loan spell with the Welsh club from Hoffenheim in 2012, was transferred to the Swans on Thursday as part of the deal which took Ben Davies and Michel Vorm to Tottenham.

In front of nearly 5,000 at Home Park on Sunday, the 24-year-old helped set up a goal for Jordi Amat and then netted twice himself having entered the friendly fray as a second-half substitute.

Northern Ireland Under-21 striker Rory Donnelly started up front in a Swans side that also included new signing Lukasz Fabianski in goal, while young midfielder Josh Sheehan was named in the line-up too.

Donnelly opened the scoring in the ninth minute when he pounced on a loose ball and saw his effort trickle over the line to the despair of Argyle goalkeeper Luke McCormick.

Gary Taylor-Fletcher scored the only goal as Leicester City edged past Everton with a 1-0 friendly win in Bangkok.

The pair will meet again on the opening day of the new season and there was little between the sides in the testing conditions of Thailand’s Suphachalasai Stadium on Sunday.

On the back of a 2-2 draw at Tranmere earlier in the week, Roberto Martinez’s men threatened in the opening 45 minutes with Kasper Schmeichel keeping both Luke Garbutt and Aiden McGeady at bay, while David Nugent had an effort ruled out for offside as Leicester ended the first half brightly.

Both managers made a number of changes at the break and Andy King was denied an opener for the Foxes as Joel Robles pushed away his low strike.

Leicester continued to press and eventually broke the deadlock just after the hour mark when striker Jamie Vardy did well to get beyond Robles and presented Taylor-Fletcher with a simple close-range finish.

Riyad Mahrez fired wide in the closing stages as Leicester looked to double their advantage over an Everton side which ended the game with a number of youngsters on the field, including Conor McAleny, Chris Long, John Lundstram and Hallam Hope.

The two teams will now return to England as their pre-season schedules intensify with Everton playing host to Portuguese giants FC Porto, while a visit to League One outfit Walsall awaits Nigel Pearson’s newly-promoted Foxes.

Hibernian fielded two trialists during a 1-0 friendly defeat to Dundee United at Easter Road.

Hull goalkeeper Mark Oxley started while midfielder Michael Richardson came off the bench in the second half.

Oxley, 24, has never started a game for Hull since joining six years ago but he made 43 appearances for Oldham on loan last season and could make a similar move to Edinburgh.

Chris Erskine scored the only goal of the game when he cut inside and fired home from the edge of the box in the 77th minute.

South Yorkshire neighbours Doncaster and Sheffield Wednesday shared four goals during their pre-season friendly at the Keepmoat Stadium which finished in a 2-2 draw.

Atdhe Nuhui and Michail Antonio put the Owls in control but Dean Furman and Kyle Bennett salvaged some local pride for Rovers.

Watford clocked another clean sheet in pre-season with a 5-0 hammering of St Albans at Clarence Park on Saturday.

The Hornets led by three at half-time as goals from Ikechi Anya, Mathias Ranegie and a double from Cristian Battocchio contributed to the win, along with an own goal from Lee Chappell.

Ben Reeves scored the only goal of the game for MK Dons as they defeated Nottingham Forest in Dean Lewington's testimonial match at stadium:mk.