Manchester City 0-1 Borussia Dortmund
A first-half Mario Gotze penalty was enough to give Lucien Favre’s team an opening win in the International Champions Cup.
More than 35,000 fans turned up at Soldier Field in Chicago to watch two giants of European football in the Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund clash. Pep Guardiola gave a chance to his youngsters in this high-profile opener, although summer signing Riyad Mahrez was on show and veteran goalkeeper Joe Hart made a second-half appearance.
It was a useful run out for City, but Favre can be more pleased with his team’s performance as his pre-season preparations continue to go to plan.
Highlights of the game
The Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund odds suggested it could be a successful night for Favre, with BVB favourites to win at 2.19; and so it proved to be as Gotze scored the only goal of the game.
The Premier League champions are awaiting the return of their World Cup stars and blooded a number of youth players including Jack Harrison, Eric Garcia, Lukas Nmecha and Brahim Diaz. But there were also places for the greatly admired England youngster Phil Foden and German wunderkind Leroy Sane, who was unlucky to miss out on a World Cup place with the 2014 champions.
Dortmund, too, had players at the World Cup. Shinji Kagawa starred and scored against Colombia as Japan stunned football fans around the world by reaching the last 16 in Russia. But Favre was able to field a much stronger team, including skipper Gotze and the impressive US international Christian Pulisic. The winger has attracted the attention of EPL big spenders, including Dortmund’s next opponents, Liverpool.
After putting his feet up during the World Cup, Gotze did himself no harm at all with a man-of-the-match performance in Chicago. It was his trickery which won the first half penalty, at 28 minutes, when he was dragged down by Oleksandr Zinchenko, and 2014 World Cup goalscorer Gotze stepped up to fire the ball down the middle and past Claudio Bravo.
City’s inexperienced side struggled to get the better of Dortmund who looked much sharper, particularly in the first half, and saw the game out with relative comfort. Neither Foden nor the usually exciting Sane impressed, but the big Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund news was the appearance of Mahrez. Sky Blue fans will have been reasonably happy with what they saw of their new signing, following his big-money switch from Leicester City. The mercurial forward showed some glimpses of quality and had City’s only chance before the break, but his deflected free kick was superbly tipped over the bar by Dortmund keeper Marwin Hitz.
At the start of the second half, Favre brought on young Jadon Sancho who was keen to impress after leaving Manchester City for Dortmund last year following a dispute with Pep Guardiola. Meanwhile, Pep introduced Joe Hart to make his first appearance for the Sky Blues in two years after loan spells at Torino and West Ham.
Mahrez continued to look lively as he fizzed another set piece just past the post. And, as the clock ticked down, he put Nmecha through on goal, but the young German striker shot weakly.
Joe Hart still had time to impress, saving Mahmoud Dahoud’s strike at point-blank range as the midfielder looked set to make it two.
Key Statistics
Manchester City’s youngsters saw plenty of the ball at Soldier Field, enjoying 53 per cent possession. Although, they lacked a cutting edge as BVB won the shot count by ten to five.
Also, the Bundesliga team didn’t let the young Sky Blues settle, committing 17 fouls to City’s six. But Pep will, at least, be pleased with his boys’ composure as they completed 88 per cent pass accuracy, compared to Dortmund’s 83 per cent.
All that means is City still hasn’t beaten BVB without the aid of penalties, now losing three of the five meetings between the two.
As pre-season preparations continue, it’s five wins in seven for Guardiola, while Favre has encouraging back-to-back victories in his first two outings as boss of the German side.
What’s next?
Manchester City’s next outing is against Premier League rivals Liverpool in New Jersey, before facing Bundesliga champions FC Bayern next Saturday.
Meanwhile, the Lucien Favre era at Borussia Dortmund continues at a furious pace as he’ll try to make it three wins out of three when they face Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool on Sunday. And with the added spice of facing BVB’s old boss, it should be a belter.
Take a look at the SBOBET odds and enjoy the game.
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