France striker Alexandre Lacazette took only a quarter of an hour to get his first goal for Arsenal as the English Premier League club opened their preseason tour with a 2-0 win over Sydney FC infront of 80,000 fans on Thursday.
The 26 year old, who moved from Olympique Lyonnais this month for a fee British media put at £46.5 million (US$60 million), paid an almost immediate dividend on his five year deal at Sydney's Olympic Stadium.
Lacazette came on for his Arsenal debut as part of a 10 man substitution in the 68th minute and was on hand 15 minutes later to sidefoot the ball into the net from winger Alex Iwobi's cutback.
"It is important for him to get that off his shoulders because you expect to score if you are a striker," manager Arsene Wenger told reporters.
"You could see that he was happy but overall what we were looking for was to play at pace and to develop our collective game and for long periods in the game that was quite good for us."
Arsenal, which also plays Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday before heading north to China, had taken an early lead when captain Per Mertesacker took advantage of some hesistancy in the Sydney FC defence to score with an overhead kick.
The Australian champion had goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne to thank for not succumbing to a heavier defeat as the 28 year old, who had a two week trial at Arsenal as a youngster, pulled of a string of fine saves. "We had though opposition because they fought for every ball but at the end of the day their goalkeeper was the man of the match," Wenger added.
One of Redmayne's saves was of a Danny Welbeck penalty but Wenger was overall pleased with England striker's work rate.
"I would say that he worked very hard," Wenger said. "He made many chances in the first half and was so keen to score that sometimes he looked too much for power. He put into the game what we expect of him. He's a great team player and I expect him to have big season."
Arsenal's other French striker, Oliver Giroud, also came on in the mass substitution despite speculation over his future with the North London club.
Meanwhile, Barcelona has reached agreement wit Benfica to sign the Lisbon based team's Portugal righ back Nelson Semedo, subject to a medical, the Liga club announced on Thursday.
There werw no more details on the Catalan club's website (www.fcbarcelona.com) bit Spanish media said the fee was £30 million ($34.20 million) plus five million in add ons.
The deal for the 23 year old ends Barca's pursuit of Arsenal's Hector Bellerin, who left the club's academy as a teenager and was reported to be their number one right back target altough the Premier League does not want to sell.
Semedo broke into Benfica's first team in 2015 and made 46 appearances last season as they won a league and cup double.
He has six international caps but was sent off in this month's Confederations Cup third place playoff match.
"Barca will hope the attack minded Semedo can fill the void left by the departure of Brazil international Dani Alves for Juventus in 2016, after the limitations of converted midfielder Sergi Roberto in the role were exposed last season.
The 26 year old, who moved from Olympique Lyonnais this month for a fee British media put at £46.5 million (US$60 million), paid an almost immediate dividend on his five year deal at Sydney's Olympic Stadium.
Lacazette came on for his Arsenal debut as part of a 10 man substitution in the 68th minute and was on hand 15 minutes later to sidefoot the ball into the net from winger Alex Iwobi's cutback.
"It is important for him to get that off his shoulders because you expect to score if you are a striker," manager Arsene Wenger told reporters.
"You could see that he was happy but overall what we were looking for was to play at pace and to develop our collective game and for long periods in the game that was quite good for us."
Arsenal, which also plays Western Sydney Wanderers on Saturday before heading north to China, had taken an early lead when captain Per Mertesacker took advantage of some hesistancy in the Sydney FC defence to score with an overhead kick.
The Australian champion had goalkeeper Andrew Redmayne to thank for not succumbing to a heavier defeat as the 28 year old, who had a two week trial at Arsenal as a youngster, pulled of a string of fine saves. "We had though opposition because they fought for every ball but at the end of the day their goalkeeper was the man of the match," Wenger added.
One of Redmayne's saves was of a Danny Welbeck penalty but Wenger was overall pleased with England striker's work rate.
"I would say that he worked very hard," Wenger said. "He made many chances in the first half and was so keen to score that sometimes he looked too much for power. He put into the game what we expect of him. He's a great team player and I expect him to have big season."
Arsenal's other French striker, Oliver Giroud, also came on in the mass substitution despite speculation over his future with the North London club.
Meanwhile, Barcelona has reached agreement wit Benfica to sign the Lisbon based team's Portugal righ back Nelson Semedo, subject to a medical, the Liga club announced on Thursday.
There werw no more details on the Catalan club's website (www.fcbarcelona.com) bit Spanish media said the fee was £30 million ($34.20 million) plus five million in add ons.
The deal for the 23 year old ends Barca's pursuit of Arsenal's Hector Bellerin, who left the club's academy as a teenager and was reported to be their number one right back target altough the Premier League does not want to sell.
Semedo broke into Benfica's first team in 2015 and made 46 appearances last season as they won a league and cup double.
He has six international caps but was sent off in this month's Confederations Cup third place playoff match.
"Barca will hope the attack minded Semedo can fill the void left by the departure of Brazil international Dani Alves for Juventus in 2016, after the limitations of converted midfielder Sergi Roberto in the role were exposed last season.
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