Far from the jeering supporters at London’s Stamford Bridge, Rafa Benitez completed his brief but productive stint at Chelsea with a 5-3 loss to Manchester City in a friendly in New York.
In Saturday’s wide-open match largely devoid of tough tackles and less physical than many training sessions, Samir Nasri scored twice for City and Ramires got two goals for Chelsea.
City built a 2-0 lead on goals by Gareth Barry in the third minute and Nasri in the 29th. Ramires scored for Chelsea in the 46th and 69th minutes around James Milner’s goal for City in the 55th.
Nasri made it 4-2 in the 74th, Juan Mata curled in a free kick for Chelsea eight minutes later, and Edin Dzeko bounced a 30-yard shot past Petr Cech in the 84th.
Booed by fans distrusting him following his tenure at Liverpool, Benitez never settled in after he was hired on a seven-month contract in November to replace Roberto Di Matteo, who was sacked six months after leading Chelsea to its first Champions League title.
Still, Benitez did manage to lead Chelsea to the Europa League title during his short time with the team.
Outgoing Real Madrid coach Jose Mourinho is expected to return to Chelsea for a second stint as manager next season.
Napoli President Aurelio De Laurentiis was quoted on Friday as saying Benitez will take over as coach of his club from Walter Mazzarri, who left to replace Andrea Stramaccioni at Inter Milan.
City also are changing managers. Roberto Mancini was fired on May 13, exactly a year after leading City to their first Premier League title since 1968.
That left assistant Brian Kidd in charge for the team’s two-city US tour, which began when City beat Chelsea 4-3 Thursday in St Louis.
Malaga coach Manuel Pellegrini appears likely to take over at City.
The match was played four days after Manchester City announced it will partner the New York Yankees to launch New York City FC, which will become Major League Soccer’s 20th team in 2015.
While planning a new venue, the expansion team could start playing at Yankee Stadium.
The crowd of 39,462 on a cool evening – the majority Chelsea fans – was more than the 38,202 for Chelsea’s friendly against Paris Saint-Germain in New York last July but below the 49,474 for a Real Madrid-AC Milan match the following month.
Looking ahead to the new team, the kids accompanying City’s starters onto the field wore sky blue New York City FC T-shirts.
City’s first goal came after backup Chelsea goalkeeper Henrique Hilario cleared to Oscar, who tapped the ball into the path of Sergio Aguero. Hilario stopped Aguero’s shot but Barry tapped in the rebound.
Dedryck Boyata, a 22-year-old defender who hasn’t played for City in two years, made a tackle inside the penalty area to deny a streaking Fernando Torres in the fifth minute.
Nasri doubled the lead in the 29th with a flick over Hilario following a through-pass by David Silva.
In the 46th minute, Ramires settled a long pass from David Luiz and beat goalkeeper Richard Wright, who had just replaced Joe Hart.
Milner rebuilt the two-goal lead in the 55th after exchanging passes with Dzeko, and Ramires scored his second following a fine cross by Torres.
