The first of two all-Premier League games at Optus Stadium this weekend ended in a 1-1 draw between Crystal Palace and Leeds United.
The ICON Festival of Football has sparked plenty of public interest in the build up and the contest was preceded by an impressive lights and pyrotechnic display.
After a largely dour first half that saw very little action in front of goal, Leeds took the lead on 56 minutes as Rodrigo converted a penalty.
Australian referee Daniel Elder pointed to the spot when Joel Ward made contact with Crysencio Summerville in the box. The decision looked a harsh one, and Palace captain Luca Milivojevic was furious, picking up a booking having raised his hands while remonstrating with the official.
However, Palace pulled level just over ten minutes later when Jordan Ayew broke free down the left and squared for Jean-Philippe Mateta who tapped home from close range.
A crowd of 33,919 watched the Friday night clash and Elder was in the thick of things throughout with a flurry of bookings that could be largely attributed to a greasy and generally very poor playing surface.
There were six yellow cards in total, with Leeds manager Jesse Marsch also having his name taken for showing too much frustration in the second half.
Palace almost won the game in the last minute when full back Tyrick Mitchell got on the end of a cross but his downward header bounced up and over the crossbar from inside the six-yard box.
Afterwards, both coaches spoke of their satisfaction with their teams’ performances and spirit in which the game was played.
“I think both teams showed the competitiveness of the Premier League,” said Palace boss Patrick Vieira. “Ourselves, we only have one game to play before the start of the season so we wanted that game and the last couple of games that we played to be real and to be really close to what to expect from the first game of the season.
“I was really pleased with the intensity, the physical side of the game, and the teams did well today.”
Those sentiments were echoed by his counterpart Marsch who described his side’s showing as one of their best from a tactical perspective.
“We’ve had spirited matches in all of them here, and that’s just kind of the way our team plays,” he said. “We only know full throttle and that’s a good thing, I think.
“We try to bring our best every day, every game. Certainly, there’s some emotion that goes on, some frustration with some calls and different things and tackles.
“The pitch wasn’t the perfect condition but the mentality to try to get the most out of the game, to play at a high level, to play fast, to play with power, I thought was really good and there were major stretches of the that where I thought we were quite good.”
For both sides, the game marked the end of their time in Australia with just two weeks to go until the Premier League kicks off.
The ICON Festival of Football wraps up tomorrow night when Manchester United and Aston Villa go head-to-head at Optus Stadium.
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