PASADENA — Chelsea’s Cesc Fabregas was sent off for a reckless lunge at Liverpool new boy Ragnar Klavan, overshadowing a 1-0 friendly win at the Pasadena Rose Bowl Wednesday.
The Premier League giant locked horns in the pre-season International Champions Cup in a match which was more remarkable for its clumsy fouls than free-flowing football.
Spanish midfielder Fabregas, 29, could have no complaints as he got his marching orders in the 70th minute for sliding late into Klavan with his studs up.
By then Californian referee Baldomero Toledo had already been forced to show yellow cards to four Liverpool players — with another to come — and one to Chelsea’s Gary Cahill.
Chelsea’s new head coach Antonio Conte told reporters after the final whistle the match was more competitive than he had been expecting, apologizing for Fabregas’s foul.
“I think that in this period, the fatigue sometimes can bring a (player) to go too late,” he said.
“I know Fabregas is a good man, a good boy and is not a player to have this type of situation. I’m sorry for him, I’m sorry for the Liverpool player.”
Klopp said Klavan had escaped unscathed from the challenge but revealed that fellow recruit Marko Grujic was in hospital after receiving a knock to the head in the first half.
“He can’t remember anything... The situation’s not too cool but injuries happening in games like this in the pre-season, that’s the biggest problem.”
Klopp denied that the game had more edge than a normal pre-season clash, but added: “It was far away from a friendly game, and that’s okay.”
Celtic in driving seat
Leigh Griffiths leveled 12 minutes from time to give struggling Celtic a 1-1 draw at Astana in their Champions League third qualifying round first leg clash Wednesday.
The result gave Brendan Rodgers’s side the upper hand ahead of their return clash in Glasgow next week, but the Kazakh side were unfortunate not to have finished with the advantage.
Astana hit the woodwork twice while Celtic goalkeeper Craig Gordon pulled off a number of fine saves.
Yuri Logvinenko headed Astana in front in the 19th minute when the defender was first to a corner.
But Scottish striker Griffiths equalised after 78 minutes with a shot from the edge of the box to give his team hope of making the play-off round.
Before Celtic levelled, the Kazakh champions saw Azat Nurgaliyev hit the crossbar while Junior Kabananga had also seen a shot come back off the post.
Griffiths’s goal was Celtic’s only strike on target while Astana had seven attempts.
The result came after a second qualifying round which had seen the Scottish champions beat Gibraltar’s part-timers Lincoln Red Imps 3-0 but only after embarrassingly losing the first leg 1-0.
Monaco’s goalkeeping woes continued as the French side fell 2-1 at Fenerbahce with Italian keeper Morgan De Sanctis forced off injured after 13 minutes.
Already without number one goalkeeper Danijel Subasic through injury, 18-year-old Loic Badiashile stepped in between the posts in Turkey.
The host took the lead in Istanbul after Nigerian striker Emmanuel Emenike got the first of his two goals on 39 minutes. But Radamel Falcao got Monaco back into the tie three minutes later.
Monaco dominated the start of the second period, but it was Emenike who doubled the hosts advantage on 61 minutes when against the run of play he picked up a volley and coolly shrugged off three Monaco defenders.
The return legs take place on August 2-3.
