On Monday, Manchester City will have their first Manchester Derby of the season as they face Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United at Beijing National Stadium, also known as the Bird’s Nest Stadium, in Beijing on Monday.
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However, Guardiola, the former Bayern Munich boss, says when the two come together inside the China’s Bird’s Nest Stadium for the first Manchester derby outside of the United Kingdom, he will have no problem recognizing the Portugues coach.
Manchester United’s match with Manchester City on the pre-season tour of China has been cancelled due to bad weather and the state of the pitch.
“We know our fans in China will, like the players and staff, be saddened by the cancellation of the match but I am sure they appreciate that the player safety has to be the top priority”.
The fixture would have been the first Manchester derby to be played overseas.
Shanxi native Mr Chen was similarly disappointed at the news, adding: “My mom and dad asked for a leave from their work to take me to Beijing to watch the game”.
Manchester United and City fans in China could not hide their anguish after learning the Premier League titans’ International Champions Cup clash had been abandoned.
“It’s in the end, last day, last match and then we can go home and train in good conditions, conditions where the players feel good and safe and bring their concentration and intensity to higher levels again”.
“It’s sad for us, it’s sad for our fans”, he said.
“The pitch and the conditions of my players are more important than results in pre-season”.
‘I’ve been looking forward to Shenzhen as well, it’s close to so many great cities as well – Hong Kong, Macau – and it’s against really good opposition in Borussia Dortmund.
“The conditions for the training session are not the best”, he said.
The worldwide friendly between Manchester United and Manchester City, originally planned to kickoff in Beijing at 7:30 p.m. earlier this evening, was called off by event organizers due to severe weather conditions.
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But hard weather conditions meant the plane was diverted to Tianjin late on Saturday night, which is located around 70 miles from the Chinese capital.
