Friendly Fixtures 2001/2002

1 Sep 2001 Real Sociedad 7 - 0 AIK Solna
Another friendly during international weekend against Asper's old side as part of transfer fee. Barkero (3), Alejandro (2), Loren, Llorente. Solna put up a poor performance against side made up of reserves.
2 Sep 2001 Alavés 1 - 0 AC Milan
"Diputación" trophy following the transfers of Javier Moreno and Contra. Milan were missing many stars on international duty, so Javi Moreno and José Mari (who injured himself) played up front. Geli got the only goal for Alavés in front of a capacity crowd.
2 Sep 2001 Deportivo La Coruña 2 - 0 Bordeaux
Friendly match. Small crowd turned up to see non-regular players beat the French team with goals from Changui and Pandiani in the second half. César Sampaio made his first appearance since picking up an injury 9 months ago.
2 Sep 2001 Tenerife 0 - 1 Real Madrid XI
Veterans benefit match for Pier to help him pay Pta 150 Mio to Sporting Gijon after court case. Sides from 1992/3 played, including the "Quinta de Buitre", (Butragueño, Michel, Sanchis, Martín Vázquez and Pardeza) plus Buyo, Chendo etc., with Valdano as manager of Tenerife and Pepe Mel playing for the team he currently manages. Butragueño got the only goal.
2 Sep 2001 Oporto 1 - 1 Celta Vigo
International trophy of the city of Porto in Portugal. Almost a local derby for Vigo, situated in the south of Gallicia near the border with Portugal. Oporto won the trophy on penalties after Luccin put his kick over the bar. Berizzo equalised for Celta in the second half after Alessandro gave the home side the lead .
8 Nov 2001 Recreativo 3 - 0 Newcastle
Inaugural match of Nuevo Colombino stadium in Huelva. With 4 players sent home in disgrace Newcastle turned up with a reserve side and were thrashed. Goals from Pavón (2) and Canteria.
27 Dec 2001 Andalucia 3 - Tunisia 3
Olympic stadium, Sevilla. Celta's Jesuli scored the opening goal on the half hour mark, with Boukadida levelling the scores for the visitors at the beginning of the second half. Two goals in five minutes from Diego Tristán, the first from the penalty spot after Sevilla's young striker Reyes was brought down, appeared to have given the home side the victory. However a Badra penalty and another late goal from Gabsi saved the honour of the North Africans. Real Madrid's Hierro was given an award before the match as the best Andalucian player of all time.
28 Dec 2001 Cataluña 1 - Chile 0
Pep Guardiola returned to Camp Nou to captain Cataluña to a narrow victory over a young South American side missing several of their big names. Guardiola was given permission by the Italian authorities to play in this friendly match despite his one year ban, and the record 56,000 crowd gave him a rousing reception, especially when he was replaced by Xavi early in the second half. The only goal of the game came a few minutes later when Xavi found Valladolid's Luis García with a long pass for him to run on and score. Guardiola insisted on taking a dope test at the end of the game as part of his appeal against the sentence.
28 Dec 2001 Valencia 4 - Lithuania 1
Inter Milan midfielder Farinós came back to his old hunting ground at Valencia's Mestalla stadium to delight the crowd with a hat-trick. This was the first game that the Comunidad Valencia had arranged in many years, and Farinós lined up alongside such well known names as Juanfran, Albelda and Rufete. Lithuania took the lead through Lukosevicius in the tenth minute, but the Spanish international scored three times in a fifteen minute period around half time to turn the game around. Sevilla's Luis Gil added a fourth a few minutes later to send the 15,000 crowd home happy.
29 Dec 2001 Euskadi 3 - Ghana 2
Two goals from Real Sociedad's De Paula were enough to give the Basque country side victory over the African team at Athletic Bilbao's San Mames stadium. De Paula was one of seven substitutions at half time with the home side behind to an early Derrick goal. Rayo Vallecano's Bolo also came on at the break and levelled the scores within a minute of the restart, and Mensah pulled one back for the visitors later on. Ghana's Princeton was sent off in the last minute for a second bookable offence. The Basque captain Gaizka Mendieta was not allowed to play in the match by his club Lazio.
29 Dec 2001 Asturias 6 - Lithuania 1
The Asturian selection beat a poor Lithuanian side in a festival of goals at Sporting Gijon's Molinón stadium. Oviedo's Oli opened the scoring in the third minute. Pablo Lago and and Juanele added two more before half time, and Juanele got his second goal of the night shortly after the interval. The blue shirts continued to attack and José Manuel got another before Dancenko pulled one back from the penalty spot. Ten minutes from the end César got the final goal for the home side.
2 Jan 2002 Osasuna 5 - Dream team 1 - Ex Compañeros 0
Osasuna won a triangular tournament played in their own stadium in honour of ex right winger Jon Andoni Goikoetxea, better known as a member of Johan Cruyff's 'dream team' which won the European cup in the nineties. Almost all the ex Barcelona stars turned up, including Stoitxkov, Koeman, Guardiola and Cruyff himself, who managed the side. The third team in the competition was made up of ex team mates and friends of Goiko, and results of each 35 minute period went as follows:
Dream team 0 - Ex Compañeros 0
Osasuna 3 (Aloisi, Goiko, Palacios) - Ex Compañeros 0
Osasuna 2 (Gorka 2) - Dream team 1 (Goiko penalty)
2 Jan 2002 Real Madrid 3 - Atlético Madrid 2
Real Madrid opened their centenary year with a 3-2 victory over city rivals Atlético Madrid. It was a typical friendly game, with both sides changing their line ups completely at half time, although they still gave the 55,000 crowd a spectacle of football. Raúl, Helguera and Celades scored for Real, with Fernando Torres and Roberto replying for Atlético. Iván Campo returned for the home side and gave the referee a kiss after the game. Not to worry though, SHE was Carolina Domenech, the only lady referee in the second division and the first woman to take charge of a game in the Santiago Bernabeu stadium.
14 Feb 2002 Marbella 0 - Alavés 1
Valentine's day friendly against holiday resort's third division team . Ibon Begoña got the only goal.
5 Mar 2002 Levante 1 - Valencia 2
Valencia won the Copa de la Generalitat Valenciana thanks to two goals from Carew in the first half after Javi Peña had given the second division side the lead.
13 Mar 2002 Osasuna 3 - Burgos 2
Aoiz. Osasuna won this friendly game between neighbours. The first division side went ahead with goals by Palacios (2) and Rivero in the first half, and Burgos came back with strikes from Merino and Cuyami in the last 20 minutes.
1 Apr 2002 Celta 1 - Benfica 0
Parque des Princes, Paris. Copa de la Amistad in honour of Spanish and Portuguese workers in France. Celta won with a goal from Edu.
7 May 2002 Real Madrid 1 - Japan 0
World cup warm up game as part of Madrid centenary year. Proceeds went to the fight against drugs. Only Figo and Roberto Carlos played of the big names, and Madrid won with a first half goal by transfer listed Congo. Match was preceded by veterans game between Madrid veterans and All Stars XI which ended 1-1 with goals from Camacho for Madrid and Klinsmann (from Cantona pass) for opponents.
7 May 2002 Terrassa 1 - Barcelona 1
Catalan cup final. Second division B side Terrassa beat a watered down Barcelona team to win the cup for the first time in their history. Xavi gave Barça the lead with a first half free kick, but Besora made it all square in the second half and their keeper Morales saved penalties from Motta and Iniesta to win the shoot out 4-1.
13 May 2002 Deportivo 1 - Sporting Braga 0
End of season friendly. Scaloni got the only goal.
16 May 2002 Jaén 0 - Athletic Bilbao 4
La Victoria stadium. Testimonial for Quico Alvarez, ex manager of the Andalucian side and fan of Bilbao, who died recently. Goals by Julen Guerrero (3) and Ezquerro.
17 May 2002 Alavés 5 - Osasuna 3
Trofeo Compañón. New trophy in memory of ex club president. Festival of goals: scorers: Mara (2), Magno, Rubén Navarro and Iván Alonso for home side, Rivero, Diego Vera and Mateo for visitors.
18 May 2002 Catalunya 1 - Brazil 3
Brazil came to Barcelona's Nou Camp for World Cup warm up match in front of 97,000 capacity crowd. Ronaldinho scored twice in first half, and although Luis García pulled one back, Edmilson scored a third goal near the end.
19 May 2002 Sporting Lisbon 3 - Deportivo 2
Friendly fixture as part of Duscher transfer fee.
19 May 2002 Porto 3 - Celta 0
End of season friendly match in Portugal.
22 May 2002 Mirandés - Alavés - Valladolid
Triangular match in Miranda de Ebro for 75th anniversary of local side. Valladolid won the tournament after beating Mirandés 0-2 and drawing 1-1 with Alavés. Earlier in the evening Alavés beat Mirandés 1-2.
22 May 2002 Elche 0 - Valencia 3
Another post season friendly between neighbours. With many players off on international duty, a chance for Benítez to try out some youngsters, including Xisco, back from Tenerife. Goals from Fabio Aurelio, Juan Sánchez and Rufete. Borja got sent off for Elche early on.
23 May 2002 Talavera 1 - Real Madrid 4
Madrid won with a team made up of reserves and youngsters. Goals by Congo (2), Sestelo and Ricky, with Morilla replying at the end.
26 May 2002 Sporting Braga 1 - Celta 2
Friendly in Portugal. Víctor Fernández had already gone. Goals by Vagner and Jesuli, with Odair scoring a penalty for the home side after the break.
24 to 26 May 2002 UE Sevilla 2012 tournament
Post-season tournament. Betis lost on penalties to Maritimo Funchal in one semi-final and Sevilla beat Copenhagen in the other, and then came from behind to beat Maritimo 2-1 in the final, despite ending the game with nine men.
29 May 2002 Thailand League All Stars 0 - Barcelona 0
Short trip to Thailand to play Bec Tero All Stars, missing World Cup players of course. A long way to go for a score-less draw. Barça won 4-3 on penalties.
Friendly Fixtures 2000/2001
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