Jordan Nobbs of Newcastle United passes the ball against Atletico Madrid at St James’ Park. (Photo by George Wood/Getty Images)
**Pre-season games for WSL sides saw a goalless Manchester derby, five goals for Palace and Villa, Brighton drawing with Ajax, Birmingham winning on tour and Newcastle beaten by ten-player Atletico Madrid**.
Aston Villa 5-1 Liverpool Brighton & Hove Albion 2-2 Ajax Crystal Palace 5-0 Portsmouth Manchester City 0-0 Manchester UnitedNewcastle United 0-2 Atletico Madrid
Valencia 0-1 Birmingham City
Manchester City and Manchester United played out a goalless draw, as home custodians Grace Prior and Khiara Keating saved well from Celin Bizet and Elisabeth Terland respectively, while Phallon Tullis-Joyce denied City with a good stop.
Atletico Madrid beat Newcastle United with two first-half goals to lift the Sela Cup, Vilda Boe Risa and Macarena Portales the scorers. Stand-in goalkeeper Silvia Lloris kept the home side out after half-time substitute Lola Gallardo swiftly departed with a red card for handling the ball outside the area.
Fran Kirby forced two penalties during Brighton’s 2-2 draw with Ajax, missing one but converting the other. Kiko Seike was also o target for Albion, when finishing from a Jelena Cankovic cross. _(Match highlights [here](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=agQNm1xqb1Q))_
Aston Villa came from behind to beat Liverpool, whose Marie Höbinger’s had opened the scoring via a Lily Woodham free kick. Kirsty Hanson quickly levelled, Rachel Daly put the hosts ahead with a penalty, Georgia Mullett and Jill Baijings netting for a 4-1 lead. Sarah Mayling completed the scoring on the rebound, after Faye Kirby turned Ebony Salmon’s effort against the bar.
Crystal Palace put five past Portsmouth without reply, with all the goals coming after the break. There were doubles for Annabel Blanchard and Lola Brown, with Molly-Mae Sharpe also finding the net.
Birmingham City were victorious in Valencia, where an eighth-minute goal for the visitors was the differece between the sides.