“In Shanghai and and now in Beijing we’ve felt that you really love the club, you really love United – so we are really disappointed because we were looking forward to the game”.
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The development topped off a pre-season trip for United that ended chaotically, with organisation as bad as the weather meaning Mourinho just wants to get his players home in one piece.
Both clubs and the organizers of the ICC believed the recent extreme weather made it unsafe to play on the uneven surface of the pitch.
The global 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.
The heat and humidity has made it hard for Mourinho’s squad to work effectively, yet executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, who arrived in Beijing on the eve of the match, suggests United will soon return to the Chinese capital. “Not a friendly. Maybe, with these conditions, it’s a double friendly”.
“To qualify the question I would use some impolite words”, he said, speaking to the media after the scheduled news conference was moved outside because of over-crowding in the venue.
And before the game was called off, City boss Pep Guardiola said his hope was for players not to get injured.
According to BBC Sport, Pep Guardiola will shake Jose Mourinho’s hand at Monday’s friendly.
City pipped United to fourth place last season courtesy of a superior goal difference, but Guardiola thinks the Red Devils will improve this campaign.
“He [Mourinho] wants to win, I want to win. Why not? Why wouldn’t I shake hands?”
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The clash was set to be the first Derby to be played outside the United Kingdom, but it has been postponed because of torrential rain in China. “If we’re patient, like Chinese people are, then good things will come around again and we’ll be here again”.
