Xabi Alonso hailed Mykhailo Mudryk’s “emotional” return from a doping ban as the winger played for Chelsea for the first time in nearly two years in a 1-0 friendly defeat by Juventus in Hong Kong on Wednesday.
Mudryk came on as a substitute for Nicolas Jackson in the 82nd minute, drawing applause from his teammates and loud cheers from Chelsea fans in the 43,575 crowd at Kai Tak Sports Park.
The Ukraine international has not played a competitive match since November 2024, having been provisionally suspended after returning an “adverse finding” for the banned substance meldonium.
However, the 25-year-old was cleared to return to action after resolving the case with the Football Association. Despite a lively cameo on the left side, Mudryk was unable to stop Juventus taking the spoils courtesy of a wonderful second-half strike from the Kosovo international Edon Zhegrova.
“Really pleased for him. It was emotional for everyone from the club to see him back,” Alonso said of Mudryk.
Arsenal were punished for defensive errors as they slipped to a 3-1 friendly defeat by Real Betis at the Aviva Stadium in Dublin.
The Premier League champions fell behind to first-half goals from Rodrigo Riquelme and Nelson Deossa and although the Gunners hit back through Piero Hincapié, Pablo Fornals struck a third for Betis before the break. Mikel Arteta named an unchanged lineup after his side won Saturday’s opening friendly match 4-1 in Spain against Girona, but they fell behind in the ninth minute when goalkeeper Kepa Arrizabalaga failed to make contact with a corner and Riquelme lashed home at the back post.
Christos Tzolis failed to take advantage for Arsenal when Betis goalkeeper Álvaro Valles passed the ball straight to the Gunners’ summer signing before Deossa put the visitors 2-0 up with a 30-yard thunderbolt into the top corner.
Arsenal reduced the deficit when Valles misjudged a corner from Tzolis for Hincapié to head home, but Betis restored their two-goal advantage before the break as former West Ham midfielder Fornals swept the ball beyond a stationary Arrizabalaga following Kai Havertz’s misplaced pass.
Arteta made wholesale changes at half-time, with the 16-year-old Marli Salmon appearing at centre-half, and neither side created a clearcut scoring chance as the game lost its momentum.