Yokohama Marinos-Manchester City is a friendly and will be played on Sunday at 12:00: news, TV, streaming, likely line-ups, predictions
Last 10 June, in the final in Istanbul against Inter Milan, Manchester City realised the dream they had been chasing for more than a decade, ever since the club was bought by the very rich Sheikh Mansour: to win the Champions League. After several unsuccessful attempts Pep Guardiola succeeded in taking the Citizens to the roof of Europe for the first time, returning to lift the cup with the big ears since the days of Barcelona.
But the Champions League was just the icing on the cake of an unrepeatable season, in which De Bruyne and his team-mates achieved the so-called Treble – Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the space of a few days – a feat that in the past in England had only been achieved by the hated cousins of Manchester United. Confirming himself will not be easy, even if the hunger for victories is still plenty and the Catalan coach will have the advantage of starting the new season without any particular pressure. His Manchester City starts again in Japan, where they will play a couple of friendlies in anticipation of their first official engagement (6 August) against Arsenal, in the match that will award the Community Shield.
The first will be against the Yokohama Marinos, an aristocratic Japanese club that has been part of the City Football Group ‘galaxy’ for a few years now.
Muscat
The Japanese league is in full swing – the team led by Australian Kevin Muscat played their last game a week ago, losing 1-0 to Kawasaki Frontale – which is why City will be facing a more athletically fit opponent, who also scored six goals against Celtic (6-4) this week. Guardiola lost Gundogan and Mahrez in the market – the latter is now one step away from Al-Ahli – but bought Kovacic from Chelsea. The former Inter man is expected to start in an experimental line-up in which young McAtee is also likely to feature.
The Prediction
Not the ‘real’ Manchester City will take the field, between a line-up full of reserves and a still precarious athletic condition. Victory for the reigning European champions should still come, although the Japanese are likely to score at least one goal in a match of more than three goals overall.
The probable line-ups for Yokohama Marinos-Manchester City
- YOKOHAMA MARINOS (4-2-3-1): Ichimori; Matsubara, Dudu, Kamijima, Nagato; Fujita, Watanabe; Miyaichi, Nishimura, Elber; Lopes.
- MANCHESTER CITY (3-2-4-1): Ortega; Akanji, Ruben Dias, Aké; Stones, Phillips; Lewis, Kovacic, McAtee, Foden; Alvarez.
POSSIBLE RESULT: 1-3
