Manchester City lost 1-0 tonight to Borussia Dortmund in the very first game of the International Champions Cup, a collection of preseason friendlies being played overseas. This was City’s first 2018-19 preseason friendly, and the performance was…well, they weren’t exactly in midseason form.
That was to be expected though as so many of City’s players are on post World Cup holiday and have not yet joined up with the squad. Plus it’s an exhibition, so you weren’t going to see much of the stars anyway.
Ticket sales for this one “had issues” as you can see below.
The announced attendance was 34,000+, but that figure is generously inflated to say the least. The only goal was scored by Mario Gotze, in the 28′ off a penalty won by Christian Pulisic.
Gotze earned man of the match.
Here below is the Man City starting XI. Joe Hart for Claudio Bravo was the only half time substitution. Leroy Sane came on the 72′ while Riyad Mahrez, who was in the first team, came off at the 72:30 mark.
We asked Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola what he thought of the play of Hart and Mahrez tonight.
“Both very good,” Guardiola responded. “they did many many good things, for the future it will be good.
“It has been the first time we have played together and we did a lot of good things. We had one week of training and I am so satisfied in the performance from these guys.”
Guardiola on Sane’s featuring tonight:
He arrived today, and needed some minutes to start. He was ready to play 15-20 minutes, but no more than that.”
Last night, Pep Guardiola said in his press conference that he would try to find a solution for Hart. He was asked tonight if the solution is elsewhere, and if games like this, in which he played an entire half, are chance for him to showcase his value to potential suitors.
“We have four goalkeepers, we decided today to use Claudio Bravo and Joe Hart,” said Guardiola.
“What Joe has done in the past 12 years in undeniable and we know his quality. Whether he’s going to stay or leave, we will see at the end of the preseason.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, is currently a regular contributor to SB Nation, WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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