3:22PM BST 30 Jul 2011
Four games; three countries; two weeks; a first piece of silverware and a goal for Fernando Torres. He even scored with his first touch.
Chelsea ended their pre-season tour of this part of the world by winning the Asia Trophy defeating Aston Villa in the final. It has, ultimately, been a good fortnight for the new manager Andre Villas-Boas while there was also the boon of a first goal for 18-year-old Josh McEachran who has proved one of the major bonuses from this tour which has yielded 11 goals with none conceded.
For Villa, regrouping under Alex McLeish it was a chastening encounter at times although they did not look as progressed as Chelsea in their preparations. Too much can be read into pre-season results Chelsea were abysmal last year and then started the season strongly but there are signs that they are adapting under Villas-Boas and are certainly appearing harder to beat.
Chelsea scored on just 34 seconds with Nicolas Anelka capitalising on Richard Dunne's slip to reach Daniel Sturridge's ball through. The striker's cross shot was superbly blocked by Shay Given who then excelled that with an astonishing stop from Florent Malouda's follow-up only for the rebound to fall to McEachran who lifted it over the goalkeeper and into the net.
It was an incredibly early blow for Villa who had like Chelsea rang the changes with Darren Bent not risked from the start after suffering a slight injury and Stephen Ireland making a first appearance under new manager McLeish. He wasted an opportunity after running onto Gabriel Agbonlahor's cut-back, only to blast wildly over.
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Source: Telegraph
Source: Telegraph