Man City may have lost their opening preseason game against Italian Champions Inter Milan, but Enzo Maresca won't be overly concerned. The results of preseason friendlies matter little, what Maresca will be looking for is players returning to match fitness in preparation for the 26/27 Premier League season.
That being said, there were some standout performances in City's first game on their tour of Asia. Despite losing on penalties (where the Blues missed their first three, the less said about that the better), there was lots to be excited about.
Ryan McAidoo came off the bench and gave a scintillating second-half performance. The youngster was dynamic, direct and came oh so close to scoring a wonder goal after taking on player after player. Antoine Semenyo was another who caught the eye, it was his excellent work down the left hand side that led to City's opener.
Man City now take on a K League All Stars XI. World Cup stars Ruben Dias, Matheus Nunes and Omar Marmoush have now joined their City teammates and are likely to start on Wednesday. We can also expect to see players from the Academy making their first appearance on the tour, including Floyd Samba, Jaden Heskey and Matty Henderson-Hall. Jeremy Monga could also play a part after his move from Leicester City over the summer.
The game kicks off at 12:00pm BST/07:00 ET/04:00 PT. Man City will then end their preseason tour of Asia with a fixture against Atletico Madrid on Sunday.
Man City's likely starting lineup against K League All Stars:
Gianluigi Donnarumma, Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Matty Henderson-Hall, Phil Foden, Tijjani Reijnders, Nico Gonzalez, Jeremy Monga, Antoine Semenyo, Omar Marmoush
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