Fans will have to wait for another month and a half, as the highly anticipated clash between Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola has been delayed after Monday’s International Champions Cup game between Manchester United and Manchester City was abandoned due to heavy rains in the Chinese capital.
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Both teams fell short of expectations last term as City pipped United to Champions League football on goal difference as the two Manchester clubs finished level on 66 points each, a whopping 15 points behind surprise winners Leicester City.
Both coaches had agreed prior to the kick-off that not picking up injuries was of paramount importance and were understandably distressed by the state of the Bird’s Nest pitch.
This could have been the first Manchester Derby away from the shores of England in 140 years.
“We feel very disappointed with the outcome, and have tried our absolute best to save the event following recent extreme rain in Beijing. We will now focus on delivering a fantastic game in Shenzhen”, Ferran Soriano, chief executive of Man City said.
‘We had our groundsman working for 10 days on the pitch, but the conditions were just too risky for the players. “There are things in life that you don’t control and, as we say in Manchester, we just get on with it, and I think it builds up for the next time we come around for an even bigger event”.
“We know how much you love us all and we love playing in front of you. We can not just run away and disappear and not play, so we have to play and try to be lucky”. We have six, seven or eight, which played in the Euros [and have not travelled to China]. “What I want is to get back to Manchester and train with the full group”, said Mourinho.
“We have to get on with it, we move on to Shenzhen, and I’m sure we’ll have plenty of time to get some good game-time in and obviously see our fans over there”, Kompany added.
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Jonathan is ESPN FC’s Manchester City correspondent.
