LONDON, July 19: European champions Chelsea and their English Premier League rivals Manchester United kicked off their pre-season with victories in their friendly matches on Wednesday.

Chelsea opened their tour of the United States with a 4-2 win over the Seattle Sounders as striker Romelu Lukaku led the way with two first-half goals.

The Belgian slotted home in the third and 45th minutes, while newcomers Marko Marin and Eden Hazard also scored for the Blues.

It was the first match for Chelsea since they beat Bayern Munich two months ago to win their first Champions League and add to their FA Cup win.

Lukaku bulled his way past Seattle defender Jeff Parke to score his first goal then added another just before the half.

Hazard, who joined the club from Lille, scored in the 11th minute off a deflection and Marin scored in the 40th minute when his shot hit Parke and past Sounder goalkeeper Bryan Meredith.

Fredy Montero scored twice in the first-half for the Sounders but they were unable to muster enough attack in the second half in front of a crowd of 53,309 at Century Field.

In Durban, Manchester United began their preseason with a 1-0 win over South African club Amazulu.

Federico Macheda scored after 19 minutes at Moses Mabhida Stadium in United's first game of their two-match tour of South Africa. The record 19-time English champions will play Ajax Cape Town on Saturday before traveling to China.

Macheda swept the ball home powerfully after being played in by Dimitar Berbatov on the left side of the penalty area.

Elsewhere, Premier League clubs Tottenham Hotspur and Aston Villa also recorded friendly victories.

New signing Gylfi Sigurdsson scored on his Tottenham debut as André Villas-Boas's side beat Stevenage 2-0 in a pre-season friendly at Broadhall Way.

The former Hoffenheim forward, who was on loan at Swansea last season, netted just 10 minutes after coming on as a second-half substitute, drilling his shot into the corner of the net after he was set up by Andros Townsend.

The win was sealed with two minutes left by Iago Falqué who cut in from the right before drilling past Steve Arnold in the Stevenage goal.

In Philadelphia, Nathan Delfouneso scored in the 43rd minute to lead Aston Villa past MLS side Philadelphia Union 1-0.—Agencies