LONDON: Colombia striker Radamel Falcao made his comeback, after an inuury absence of six months and 11 days, in Monaco’s 2-2 draw with Valencia in the Emirates Cup pre-season tournament in north London.
Monaco had won their previous four pre-season games and were losing 2-1 when Falcao entered the action in the 72nd minute as a substitute for Dimitar Berbatov. He had little chance to shine but is expected to see more of the action against Arsenal with Real Madrid among the most interested observers.
Falcao’s season was ended abruptly by knee ligament injury during a French cup-tie in January. He worked hard but in vain to try to regain fitness in time for the World Cup in which Colombia, without him, reached the quarter-finals.
The tournament hosts thrashed Benfica 5-1 with four goals from Yaya Sanogo. The France Under-21 striker did not manage to find the net in any of his 14 appearances last season, having joined from Auxerre on a free transfer.
But he claimed a first-half hat-trick while Costa Rica forward Joel Campbell, back from a loan spell at Olympiacos, also impressed, scoring the other Arsenal goal.
Summer signing Alexis Sanchez was introduced from the bench in the 74th minute for his Arsenal debut.
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