Preseason Friendlies Wrap: Guardiola vs. Barcelona, Wins for Man City, Liverpool

Plenty of teams around Europe have been stepping up their preseason plans with another batch of prestigious friendly games, so it's time to take a look at how some of the biggest teams fared Wednesday.

We've got updates from the Barclays Asia Trophy, the latest on Liverpool's tour of Australia and Pep Guardiola's Bayern Munich facing his old club Barcelona.

That, and other games, are covered right here in our Wednesday wrap.

Melbourne Victory 0-2 Liverpool

Early in the day—or late at night, if you were local to the match—Liverpool took on Melbourne Victory in front of 95,000 fans at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.

A dominant performance was not matched by chances created for the Reds, though they took the lead on the half hour mark through captain Steven Gerrard and doubled their advantage in the dying seconds thanks to Iago Aspas.

Wantaway forward Luis Suarez played the final 20 minutes of the match and received a good reception from the crowd before setting up the second goal, but most of the goodwill and support was certainly aimed the way of the club skipper.

Liverpool have now won all three of their preseason matches, keeping a clean sheet in each.

Sunderland 3-1 Tottenham

Over in Hong Kong, Sunderland and Tottenham Hotspur played out the first semifinal of the Barclays Asia Trophy on a rain-sodden pitch which made playing treacherous—and also meant the game was played out in two 40-minute periods instead of 45.

Already without Gareth Bale because of injury, Spurs suffered another blow as they lost defender Jan Vertonghen to injury as well.

Worst of all for Spurs, it was Sunderland who ended victorious thanks to a 3-1 win.

Gylfi Sigurdsson scored a deflected goal for Spurs to put them ahead but Sunderland hit back through Cabral, Wes Brown and David Moberg Karlsson.

Sunderland go on to the final which takes place Sunday, with Spurs playing the third-place match the day before.

South China 0-1 Manchester City

The second semifinal took place later on the same pitch, between South China and Manchester City.

Needless to say, the pitch was in an even worse condition after the Sunderland-Spurs game, and City were forced to abandon any plans of playing neat, quick football.

Edin Dzeko scored the only goal in a 1-0 win, enough to send the Premier League side through to the final against Sunderland.

South China will face Spurs for third place.

Southampton 0-2 Schalke

Southampton fielded new signing Victor Wanyama in their side as they faced German Bundesliga team Schalke on Wednesday, but he couldn't help his side to victory.

After a goalless first half in the match, which took place in Austria, Schalke scored twice in quick succession after the break to control the game and seal a 2-0 win.

Klaas-Jan Huntelaar and Joel Matip were the scorers for Schalke, who have now won three games in a row in preseason. This was arguably their toughest test so far after previous wins against Aachen and Koblenz.

Saints meanwhile face Besiktas in their next match as they step up their preparations for the new season.

Bayern Munich 2-0 Barcelona

Pep Guardiola enjoyed a winning return to facing his old side as Bayern ran out 2-0 winners over Barcelona.

Last season's treble winners lined up without a recognised striker in their starting XI, with Thomas Muller given the nod to play in an advanced central role.

Philipp Lahm, deployed in midfield so far under Guardiola, scored the first goal for a strong-looking Bayern side, while Barcelona fielded a distinctively mixed side throughout the match. Even so, they did include Leo Messi as he returns from injury—while former Barcelona man Thiago Alcantara started for Bayern.

Mario Mandzukic scored the decisive second goal after good play from Emre Can.

Barcelona's new manager Gerardo Martino will shortly take over in his new position, with Jordi Roura in charge for this defeat.

Lyon 2-2 Real Madrid

Carlo Ancelotti made a quick return to France as his Real Madrid side were held 2-2 by Lyon.

Clement Grenier opened the scoring with a fantastic first-time finish for Lyon, before Lisandro Lopez made it 2-0 just after the hour mark.

Real hit back with two goals in the last 10 minutes to force the draw, with Alvaro Morata scoring from the penalty spot and Casemiro heading home late on.

Ancelotti handed starts to the likes of Denis Cheryshev and Nacho, while new signings Dani Carvajal, Isco and Asier Illarramendi also featured in the XI. Karim Benzema, of course, also played against his former side, though had little impact.

Lyon have now won just one of their four friendlies this summer, drawing the other three, and now head into a Champions League playoff match against Grasshopper Zurich next week.

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