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Manchester City's pre-season debut was a good one, as the Citizens lost 1-0 against Bayern Munich at Allianz Arena, but had a good performance. Pep Guardiola tested a lot of players in his debut with City, and even though his best men weren't available, we were able to see some good things from his new team, especially in the second half. Pre-season results don't really matter, people.
FIRST HALF
Guardiola's first City XI was full of kids and usual first team reserves, so without a lot of quality in the side, it was going to be hard to see anything remotely close to a Pep Team. The high pressing was there and it got good results in the first few minutes, but the Blues were quickly dominated by a much stronger Bayern team. Franck Ribéry wreaked havoc on the left side and created at least three major chances for Bayern, but Alaba and Green (twice) were stopped by Willy Caballero, who saved City's first half.
At halftime, a poor performance by a team that was too young to understand and apply Pep's principles. He had better players on the bench, and we could see a better game in the final period.
SECOND HALF
The final 45 minutes saw a role reversal. The experienced and dominating Bayern became a young team with zero danger on offense. Guardiola put his best available players on the pitch, and City immediately started dominating possession and creating chances through a hard-working Wilfried Bony. There was no real scoring opportunity, but the Citizens were the definitely better side in the closing moments of the game.
Because their dominance didn't result in a goal, City paid for their lack of finishing with an unlucky play. Bayern midfielder Öztürk took a weak shot, but it was deflected by Clichy into the goal, far away from the reach of Angus Gunn. City continued to put pressure and came close to the goal with a great play by Celina, but he couldn't finish it.
In the end, a pre-season debut loss, but that doesn't matter. It was a good performance for a first game with a completely new philosophy, and we could see something special here. Now, off to China.
Bayern Munich: Ulreich | Rafinha, Feldhahn, Martinez (Friedl), Bernat (Götze) | Alonso (Dorsch), Lahm, Alaba (Öztürk) | Benko (Shabani), Green, Ribéry (Hägler)
Goal: Öztürk (76')
Man City: Caballero (Gunn) | Maffeo, Adarabioyo, Kolarov (Bytyqi), Angelino | Fernando (Yaya Touré), Fernandinho (García), Zinchenko (Delph) | Navas (Celina), Iheanacho (Bony), Barker (Clichy)