The tournament spokesman Patrick Murphy said: “The extreme weather leading up to the match in Beijing has damaged the National Stadium playing surface to an extent that leaves it in an un-playable condition”.
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“The Committee and both teams made the decision together in the interest of player safety”.
“City v United, for me, is Old Trafford or the Etihad or a Cup Final at Wembley, not a friendly”, Mourinho said.
The following day, Mourinho’s pre-match press conference descended into farce as the temperature rose to 40°C in the designated briefing room at the Bird’s Nest.
“We don’t want to expend too much energy in training because of the humidity but we stay here, we play, and then go back to Manchester for two more weeks of preparation before the first official game”.
Three teams participated in this year’s ICC China tournament, including Manchester United, Manchester City and German side Borussia Dortmund.
Guardiola was similarly blunt when asked what he wanted from the match.
“We thank. the tens of thousands of fans who committed to purchasing tickets”, said International Champions Cup spokesman Patrick Murphy.
The Manchester derby has been cancelled after torrential rains left the pitch unplayable.
‘We had our groundsman working for 10 days on the pitch, but the conditions were just too risky for the players. Guardiola’s Man City went down to his team of the last 3 seasons, Bayern Munich, in Germany, while Mourinho’s United were swept by double German runners-up Dortmund 4-1 in Shanghai earlier this week. An appropriate refund policy will be put in place by our local partners for those fans.
“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.
On Saturday, bad weather conditions forced a plane carrying half of United’s squad to Beijing to be diverted.
Striker Memphis Depay tweeted a video of himself outside the plane in Tianjin, saying they were “lost in China”.
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The meeting between the two Manchester giants, which was scheduled to be held on Monday afternoon (UK time), was billed as more than just another derby between the two clubs.
