Bitter and Blue - Manchester City vs Borussia Dortmund, Champions Cup 2016: All UpdatesManchester City News, Opinion and Commentaryhttps://cdn.vox-cdn.com/community_logos/47425/bitter-fave.png2016-07-28T14:55:56+01:00http://bitterandblue.sbnation.com/rss/stream/120670312016-07-28T14:55:56+01:002016-07-28T14:55:56+01:00City play well, beat Dortmund on penalties
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<figcaption>Lintao Zhang/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p style="text-align: justify;">Manchester City won their first and only Champions Cup friendly in China against Borussia Dortmund in Shenzhen on penalties, after a 1-1 draw in regulation thanks to goals from Sergio Agüero and Christian Pulisic. After a great first half on the defensive side, City stepped up their offense in the second half, and Pep Guardiola can be very excited about the future of his squad, regardless of the result.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>FIRST HALF</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Two things stood out from the first minute: the pitch was slippery, and the marking was great. Because of that, both teams had a lot of trouble with the ball and very few scoring chances were created in the first half. From a tactical standpoint, the high pressing from City worked to perfection, and Dortmund were never comfortable to build from the back.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">But the opposite was also true, and that's where City suffered. Willy Caballero just couldn't pass the ball, and the center-backs had a lot of trouble finding the midfielders. The possession game wasn't as sharp, and the only time City were dangerous was when Kelechi Iheanacho touched the ball.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the last minute, though, we saw the first glimpse of a <span>Pep Guardiola</span> side. City kept the ball and patiently built from the back, with everyone getting involved in the passing and the ball going from wing to wing to eventually open spaces in Dortmund's defense. After a minute-long buildup, Fernandinho found Iheanacho alone in the box, and if it wasn't for a great save from Bürki, the Nigerian would've scored the first goal of the Guardiola Era just the way Pep likes it.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">At halftime, plenty of positives without the ball, plenty of negatives with it, but a clear potential for improvement with better players in the second half.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>SECOND HALF</b></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Guardiola brought out his biggest stars, and boy did it work to perfection. City instantly began to dominate possession, creating chances through David Silva, Bony and Agüero. Dortmund defended a lot more, and the high pressing from City earned them results, and after a beautifully worked team play, Sergio Agüero bagged an easy tap-in, scoring the first goal of the Pep Era.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the last play of the game, Christian Pulisic equalized and we went to penalty kicks. After 16 attempts, Angus Gunn saved Mikel Merino's penalty and won the game for City.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">In the end, a very good second half performance that is very promising for the future and the potential of this team under the world's greatest coach.</p>
<p align="center"><img src="http://cdn1.sbnation.com/images/blog/star-divide.v5e9d7f1.jpg" style="border: 5px solid white;"></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><b>Man City</b>: Caballero (Gunn) | Adarabioyo, Otamendi (Maffeo), Kolarov (Angelino) | Navas (Silva), Fernandinho, Fernando (Toure (Sterling)), Clichy (Denayer) | Zinchenko (Aleix García), Delph (Agüero) | Iheanacho (Bony (Nolito))</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Goal: <i>Agüero (79')</i></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;"><b><a href="https://www.fearthewall.com/" class="sbn-auto-link">Borussia Dortmund</a></b>: Bürki | Ginter (Merino), Bartra (Larsen), Sokratis (Bender), Schmelzer (Passlack) | Rode (Castro), Sahin (Bumic) | Mor (Pulisic), Leitner, Dembele (Kagawa) | Ramos (Hober)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Goal: <i>Pulisic (90+'5)</i></p>
https://bitterandblue.sbnation.com/2016/7/28/12307520/manchester-city-borussia-dortmund-2016-final-score-instant-recapRenatoGoncalves2016-07-28T14:51:03+01:002016-07-28T14:51:03+01:00WATCH: Agüero scores against Dortmund
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<p style="text-align: justify;">It took nearly 180 minutes of football over two friendly matches in Germany and China, but the Pep Guardiola Era at Manchester City finally has a goal. And it was a beautifully worked team goal:</p>
<div style="width: 100%; height: 0px; position: relative; padding-bottom: 56.250%;"><iframe src="https://streamable.com/e/ybk2?muted=1&logo=0" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="text-align: justify; width: 100%; height: 100%; position: absolute;"></iframe></div>
<p style="text-align: justify;">(via<a target="_blank" href="https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/"> r/Soccer</a>)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">This goal has everything a Pep Guardiola side's goal needs to have: a ball being passed from one wing to another to find an open player, good off-the-ball movement to create easy passing lanes, and giving your best striker the best possible position to score a goal.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">All of this happened when Angelino was found open on the left side, had support from David Silva, who had support from Aleix García for a quick, easy one-two, and then Silva gave Agüero a really easy goal. Patient use of possession to create the best possible goalscoring situation. That's how Pep Guardiola likes it.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;">Looks like Man City players already understand what the coach is asking.</p>
https://bitterandblue.sbnation.com/2016/7/28/12308430/watch-aguero-goal-manchester-city-borussia-dortmundRenatoGoncalves2016-07-28T12:07:25+01:002016-07-28T12:07:25+01:00City vs Dortmund: Lineups, Live Thread
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<img alt="Manchester City Pre-game Training & Press Conference" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/41aGH0PF1fvBXgDYqah_3FLDtcs=/0x0:3000x2000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50229733/579453788.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>This time there'll be a friendly!</p> <p id="ZjvRch" style="text-align: justify;">After a disappointing cancellation on Monday, Manchester City and Pep Guardiola finally have a friendly to play in China, as the Citizens face the exciting Borussia Dortmund in Shenzhen. The pitch is in good condition, which hopefully won't lead to injuries and will give us a nice game.</p>
<p id="R8vlQc" style="text-align: justify;">Thanks to the cancellation of the United game, this is the only International Champions Cup the Citizens will play, which means they can't compete for the title. Being the only team with two matches, Dortmund will be the moral winners. Yay!</p>
<p id="c1hIvx" style="text-align: justify;">What matters is fitness, getting better as a team, and watching Pep Guardiola go crazy on the sidelines. Should be fun!</p>
<p id="tqXbKM" style="text-align: justify;">***</p>
<p id="BIO8rL" style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Man City Starting Lineup</strong>: Caballero | Clichy, Otamendi, Adarabioyo, Kolarov | Fernando, Fernandinho, Delph | Navas, Iheanacho, Zinchenko</p>
<p id="eL01dk" style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Borussia Dortmund Starting Lineup</strong>: Bürki | Ginter, Sokratis, Bartra, Schmelzer | Rode, Sahin | Mor, Leitner, Dembélé | Ramos</p>
<p id="ASNCYI" style="text-align: justify;">***</p>
<p id="amTgxf" style="text-align: justify;">Pep Guardiola already begins to test his squad. It's a very similar lineup to the one that played in Munich, with Clichy, Otamendi and Delph in place of Maffeo, Angelino and Barker. However, there's no real right-back, and Pep did try Clichy as a center-back in training. Kolarov also played there, and Otamendi can be a right-back. Does Pep go with three at the back?</p>
<p id="Wb49fo" style="text-align: justify;">Dortmund plays with a team much closer to their best available side. Aubameyang is not even on the bench, which is curious given he played against Man United last week and he's now on the eye of the transfer storm. Where is Auba going?</p>
<p id="qh9lZ3" style="text-align: justify;">This should be a very fun match.</p>
https://bitterandblue.sbnation.com/2016/7/28/12307488/manchester-city-borussia-dortmund--confirmed-lineupsRenatoGoncalves2016-07-27T21:40:41+01:002016-07-27T21:40:41+01:00City vs Dortmund: Preview
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<img alt="Manchester City Pre-game Training & Press Conference" src="https://cdn.vox-cdn.com/thumbor/6EmsaRvSTZJlgPQGyLAbmZ9O-k4=/0x0:3000x2000/1310x873/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/50224491/583634556.0.jpg" />
<figcaption>Photo by Lintao Zhang/Getty Images</figcaption>
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<p>This friendly will actually happen, and it should be a fun one</p> <p style="text-align: justify;" id="9zjZ0J">After a botched attempt of a preview of the Guardiola-Mourinho English rivalry in Beijing, Manchester City are really going to play a friendly in China this time. Shenzhen has good weather, the pitch is in good condition, and the Citizens will play their first — and only — International Champions Cup game, against Borussia Dortmund.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="McywCp">Pep Guardiola was upset in his pregame presser. He wanted to face United not only because of his competitive spirit, but also to actually see his players in action. Training is a lot different than the actual game in preseason, and you need to see your ideas and philosophies being applied against a credible opponent. Pep only saw that in the Bayern game without his biggest stars, and he was looking forward to the two games in China to include his best players. Now there's only one.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="TxTFea">There are silver linings to the United cancellation, however: first, and more importantly, the pitch in Beijing was so dangerous that players could get injured, and that is certainly not ideal in your first month in charge as a coach. Second, it gave time for the internationals to get more time in training with the new manager, and the first few weeks of learning the Pep Style are vital.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="QSKFLn">If the United friendly was exciting because of Pep-Jose, this is just as exciting since Dortmund are just too much fun to watch and were the main adversary to Guardiola during his three years in Germany. Can't go wrong with Dortmund.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="upKa6p"><strong>Date/Time</strong>: Thursday, July 28, 2016, 7:30pm local time, 12:30pm BST (UK), 5:30am ET, 2:30am PT (US), 5pm IST (India)</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="wh0xRz"><strong>Venue</strong>: Shenzhen Stadium, Shenzhen, China</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="RbNKw8"><strong>Referee</strong>: A Chinese Guy</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="jomjsH"><strong>On TV</strong>: ESPN3 (US), ESPN Deportes (US - Spanish), Sky Sports 1 (UK), TSN (Canada), Sony ESPN (India); <a href="http://www.livesoccertv.com/match/1952636/borussia-dortmund-vs-manchester-city/">more</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="q20hW7"><strong>Online streaming</strong>: <a href="http://espn.go.com/watchespn/">WatchESPN </a>(US), Sky GO (UK); <a href="http://www.livesoccertv.com/match/1952636/borussia-dortmund-vs-manchester-city/">more</a></p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="3oJHxQ"><strong>Man City Team News</strong>: Seven internationals are back (Agüero, Otamendi, Silva, Nolito, Hart, Sterling and Denayer) and after five full days of team training, they have a good chance of featuring for at least 10-15 minutes. Only Kevin De Bruyne, Eliaquim Mangala, Bacary Sagna (vacation), Ilkay Gundogan and Vincent Kompany (injury) are unavailable, and with 12 EDS players, Guardiola has a much stronger squad to choose from compared to what he worked with last week in Munich.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="mrIR0e">It's very interesting to see how the bigger stars begin to adapt to Pep's tactics. City always played a possession game under Pellegrini, but it was a very simple style. Guardiola's is much more complex with a lot of movement and variations, so it's fascinating to see how quickly the best players pick things up.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="Rrwepo"><strong>Borussia Dortmund Team News</strong>: Thomas Tuchel has a near full-strength side to work with, and that helped in the 4-1 destruction of Man United last week. Dortmund is already an established team who understands Tuchel's tactics, so their preseason is simply about adding a few new ideas and integrating the new signings to the squad.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="WMwM5Q">Speaking of transfers, it's been a busy summer for the Yellow and Black. Two key players left (Mats Hummels to Bayern, Gundogan to City), but quite a few came in: prospects Ousmane Dembele, Emre Mor and Sabin Merino; a good midfielder (Sebastian Rode from Bayern) along with an established winger (Andre Schürrle). Oh, and of course, the return of Mario Götze, one of the biggest moves of the summer transfer window.</p>
<p style="text-align: justify;" id="V50gPf">Once again, it's impossible to predict the starting lineups, especially with these two coaches. They love to experiment, and with so many options available, they could surprise with their selections. Should be a very fun game, though.</p>
https://bitterandblue.sbnation.com/2016/7/27/12301988/manchester-city-borussia-dortmund-live-watch-online-previewRenatoGoncalves