An Andy Carroll double was not enough to inspire a comeback for West Ham in their final pre-season friendly as Juventus claimed a 3-2 win thanks to Simone Zaza’s late strike.
Juventus had been invited to open the London Stadium and provide the sort of high-quality European opposition West Ham hope to host on a regular basis, but the exceptional Paulo Dybala reminded the hosts of the sizeable gulf to be bridged between the best and the rest.
In three first-half minutes the Argentine striker gave West Ham a two-goal deficit to overturn, first bursting in behind the defence and powering a shot beyond Adrian before then turning provider. Dybala burst past three defenders as he drifted in from the right and then fed Mario Mandzukic to volley home.
West Ham had had their chances, Enner Valencia had struck the post 36 seconds before Dybala’s opener, but their first-half goal on 33 minutes still came as a surprise. The largely peripheral Carroll rose above Daniele Rugani, headed low and was on hand to tap in when Gianluigi Buffon could only push his effort away.
The visitors could have had more goals before the break, Mehdi Benatia hitting the bar, and the Hammers would have been relieved to still be in the match with 45 minutes left.
Perhaps that relief dissipated when Gonzalo Higuain, the third-most expensive footballer in history, was introduced from the Juventus bench.
Yet it was the other player in a No.9 shirt who shone in the opening stages, Carroll once more rising again, this time from a Mark Noble free-kick, to head the Hammers level on 52 minutes.
A raft of changes sucked much of the momentum out of the game just as it was reaching its most exciting stage. Only the return of Dimitri Payet with 15 minutes brought the London Stadium to its feet.
Even West Ham’s returning hero was unable to inject drama into the closing minutes, with the match decided by a late low strike by substitute Zaza, who burst in behind the backline before hammering home.
