Sublime Pedro, Pulisic lead Chelsea past RB Salzburg

Christian Pulisic netted his first Chelsea goals and Pedro scored a superb backheel volley as the Blues claimed a 5-3 pre-season win at RB Salzburg.

Pulisic produced two neat finishes in the first half, either side of winning a penalty, scored by Ross Barkley.

Jerome Onguene pulled one back just after the break, before Pedro’s ingenious backheel finish.

Michy Batshuayi struck the Blues’ fifth, sandwiched between two Takumi Minamino goals for Salzburg.

Frank Lampard’s side have now won their last three pre-season games, following victories at Spanish champions Barcelona and Championship team Reading.

A strong starting XI was impressive in Austria, none more so than American international Pulisic, who joined the Blues from Borussia Dortmund last January before returning to the German club for the rest of the 2018-19 season.

Now a member of the Chelsea squad, he demonstrated why they spent £58m to get him, shooting low into the bottom corner after collecting a throughball from Pedro for his first and then taking down a Barkley pass before slotting home his second.

Barkley also put in another good pre-season display, adding another goal to the one he scored at Reading at the weekend.

Chelsea’s final pre-season game is at German side Borussia Monchengladbach on Saturday, with their first Premier League game eight days later at Manchester United on 11 August.

-Report by BBC Sport