City had a friendly with Manchester United in Beijing cancelled in July as a result of heavy rain.
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But he also emphasised that with them not making the most of some openings, City had to “suffer” through a second half in which Jose Mourinho’s United, invigorated by some half-time substitutions, were considerably improved.
One negative aspect for City has been the criticism levelled at goalkeeper Claudio Bravo after a hard debut.
Pep Guardiola takes charge of his first Champions League group game as Manchester City manager tomorrow when Borussia Moenchengladbach visit the Etihad Stadium in Group C.
Pep Guardiola played down the psychological impact of his team’s victory against Manchester United in Saturday’s derby, and said there was more to be done if they wanted to achieve Champions League success this season. This season’s group also features Barcelona – Lionel Messi, Luis Suarez, Neymar and the rest – and Scottish champions Celtic. “The important game is next Tuesday for us – a really important game for us”.
Leicester did sniff their chance due to Lucas’ blunder but Liverpool started the second half in the same fashion that they had started the first, with Adam Lallana adding a superb third smashing it high into the roof of the net.
“Teams will try and exploit every weakness and City don’t have many so any little advantage will be taken”.
Guardiola did his best to temper expectations after City’s derby win, but there has been no disguising their impressive form over the first month of his tenure.
Guardiola was generally pleased with the way his men played over that 45 minutes as they assumed a 2-0 lead through Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho before Zlatan Ibrahimovic’s reply just prior to the break.
Zlatan Ibrahimovic did manage to halve the deficit three minutes before half-time but the Red Devils couldn’t find a victor in the second half despite the introduction of strikers Anthony Martial and Marcus Rashford.
“It was a great feeling and I feel happy”.
“Until now, in the Premier League it has been okay, but to compete against the best clubs in Europe, in this moment with the way we are playing, we are not able to”, he said.
As always, captain Wayne Rooney drew the ire of fans and the media, but in the first half Rooney was the only United player that looked like he understood the importance of this game and wanted to win. So please forgive me if I’m not ready to declare Manchester City title favorites because they won at Old Trafford on the fourth game of the season.
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A trip to five-time consecutive champions Juventus can be daunting enough, but when you’re trying to mark one of the Old Lady’s signature signings in Miralem Pjanic, it can just get worse.
