After the teams were forced to re-schedule their training sessions yesterday to the nearby Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, United manager Mourinho and City boss Guardiola revealed they are anxious that the pitch could cut up badly and cause damage to key men with the Premier League season starting in three weeks.
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But heavy rain in the Chinese capital rendered the pitch unplayable, with United revealing on Twitter that “tournament organisers and participating clubs have made a decision to cancel” the encounter.
“We want to keep calm, play safe, go home and keep the preparation going next week”, Mourinho said before the game was called off.
Captain Vincent Kompany is in Beijing with the squad after recovering from an injury-blighted campaign in 2015/16, but did not train with the rest of the players as he is undergoing his own intensive programme to regain full fitness.
The cancellation means fans will now have to wait until the English Premier League derby on September 10 for the bitter rivalry between Mourinho and Guardiola to be renewed.
“These are no conditions to play a good game of football”.
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”.
“It is the end and we can nearly go home and train in conditions where the players are safe”, he said. “We will be playing [in the Europa League] on Thursday, but I don’t think they will then make us play on a Monday, they will make us play on Sunday and probably at 12 o’clock”, Mourinho told The Sun.
And an irritable Mourinho was left equally dumbfounded as to why such scrutiny was being placed on any pre-match trivialities between the two.
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Guardiola is preparing for his first season in charge at Manchester City, while Mourinho is gearing up for his debut campaign at the helm of Manchester United. They had their training sessions moved at short notice from the national stadium to the Olympic Sports Centre the day before the game as they worked out in stifling and humid conditions. “With this manager and the good players they already had, they will be a good team”. “We are hopeful the game will go ahead”.
