PHILADELPHIA: Manchester United ended their pre-season tour of the United States with a 3-1 victory over Barcelona on Sunday.

Barcelona flourished early on as new signing Ronaldinho, who turned down a move to the English champions, stroked the ball around with typical Brazilian flair and imagination despite being booed by the United faithful before the start.

United manager Alex Ferguson rested strikers Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Also missing from the line-up was Argentina midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron, a transfer target for Chelsea.

Without those three, United appeared lacking in ideas for the opening exchanges.

Ronaldinho's running reaped dividends in the ninth minute when he lofted a perfectly weighted cross for Dutch striker Patrick Kluivert to head past Tim Howard, United's new American goalkeeper.

But, despite further Barcelona pressure, United levelled after 25 minutes. Winger Ryan Giggs found space on the left and crossed for an unmarked Diego Forlan to beat keeper Victor Valdes with a diving header.

Brilliant goal

United, spurred on by skipper Roy Keane, went ahead 11 minutes later when Nicky Butt's centre from the right took a deflection and man of the match Forlan pounced to score his second goal.

Barcelona came out for the second half without Ronaldinho and Kluivert. United made two changes after 52 minutes, bringing on David Bellion for Darren Fletcher and van Nistelrooy for Uruguayan Forlan.

Van Nistelrooy produced a goal of individual brilliance after 85 minutes. Battling with Barcelona defenders after losing a tussle in midfield, the striker won the ball back and beat two men before rounding the keeper to score.

United made it four wins out of four on the tour. They had also beaten Celtic 4-1, Mexico's Club America 3-1 and Juventus 4-1.

Sunday's game was the first to be played at Philadelphia's new Lincoln Financial Field, home of the National Football League's Philadelphia Eagles, and drew a sell-out crowd of 68,396.

Ajax sink Inter

In Amsterdam, hosts Ajax Amsterdam beat Inter Milan 3-0 on Sunday to win the Amsterdam tournament for the third consecutive year.

Steven Pienaar, Rafael van der Vaart and Wamberto hit Ajax's goals in an impressive performance by Ronald Koeman's side.

Earlier, Liverpool had England midfielder Steven Gerrard and striker Neil Mellor sent off in a 2-1 defeat by Turkey's Galatasaray.

Ajax, who drew 0-0 with Liverpool on Friday, went ahead four minutes into the second half when Van der Vaart fed Pienaar and the South African fired past Francesco Toldo.

Seven minutes later Van der Vaart increased the lead. Ajax's 20-year-old captain gave Toldo no chance after Pienaar knocked back a cross from substitute Jari Litmanen.

Wamberto put the gloss on the win when he was unselfishly set up by Van der Vaart to net a third in stoppage time.

Juve take revenge

In East Rutherford, New Jersey, Juventus won the Italian Super Cup with a 5-3 penalty shootout victory over European Cup holders AC Milan after a fiercely competitive match had ended 1-1 after extra time on Sunday.

Juventus defender Ciro Ferrara beat Milan keeper Christian Abbiati from the spot to complete the win after man-of-the-match Gianluigi Buffon had parried Milan midfielder Cristian Brocchi's penalty.

However, it was the silver-goal extra time which provided most drama for the 54,128-strong crowd at Giants stadium as Marcello Lippi's side earned a modicum of revenge for their defeat, also in a penalty shootout, to Milan in the European Champions League final in May.

Agencies via Xinhua

(China Daily 08/05/2003 page8)