This isn’t the way Jose Mourinho dreamed of starting his career at Manchester United.
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United will leave Beijing to return to Manchester later on Monday as planned, while City are due to fly to Shenzhen on Tuesday for Thursday’s game against Borussia Dortmund.
After a 4-1 loss to Borussia Dortmund on Friday, and now the hard weather conditions in Beijing, United’s trip to China has not been ideal preparation for the upcoming Premier League campaign.
After the match, Mourinho said the match was “like Formula One against Formula Three”.
City boss Pep Guardiola and United manager Jose Mourinho share concerns about the pitch and are anxious about their players picking up injuries.
Earlier City boss Pep Guardiola had told reporters his number one priority was to avoid any injuries and what could be a treacherous pitch.
Manchester United and Manchester City’s International Champions Cup (ICC) friendly in Beijing has been cancelled due to weather conditions. “The most important thing is that the players are not going to be injured but we also know that it’s so important to come here to know the people and to play a good two games against incredible teams like United and (Borussia) Dortmund”. “I hope our players and City’s players can go home without injury”.
“Bad conditions for my players to train and bad conditions for my players to play are a problem for me”.
“It’s sad to call it off, but I think mainly we want to thank all the fans for their passion, for the way they’ve received us in Beijing since we’ve been here”. No reason why. He will want to win, I will want to win.
When asked if he will shake the hand of counterpart Pep Guardiola, his rival when the pair were managing on opposite sides of the Real Madrid-Barcelona power struggle, Mourinho retorted: “Of course I will shake his hand”.
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“We know how much you love us all and we love playing in front of you”. Why not? Why should he not shake my hand? We have a good group, we have a good spirit and we cope with it. “If we’re patient, like Chinese people are, then good things will come around again and we’ll be here again”.
