City beats Dortmund on penalties in Shenzhen Neymar fan caught in hotel laundry room
SHENZHEN, China: Pep Guardiola got League season.
“Football today is tough,” said Guardiola, whose side beat their German opposition in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen.
“Today you don’t have time to rest. I don’t know if we are going to kill our players but the schedule is the schedule. We start in two weeks. But I saw what I wanted to see [tonight] – we are aggressive and we want the ball.”
- out Guardiola had craved – thanks to a 6-5 penalty shootout win over Dortmund, after the game ended one apiece.
Guardiola admitted City were still a work in progress with just two preseason games completed so far, and two to come before the EPL action kicks off.
“I don’t want to complain but I would like to have more time,” said Guardiola. “But we have to adapt. Today we played one of the best teams in Europe – they are so strong. There are many things to improve.”
A tap-in from Sergio Aguero for City on 79 minutes was cancelled out after
City keeper Angus Gunn was the hero of penalties with three saves, including the one sealing ing their victory when he palmed away y Mikel Merino’s attempt.
It was a livelyvely enough affair in front of a crowd of around 32,000 at the Shenzhen Universiade Stadium, with both managers ers drawing deep on their substitutes benches enches as time wore on.
Robbed of the chance for a derby against rivals Manchester United by rain and a ropey y pitch on Monday, City’s Spanish managernager had been desperate to get some game ame time into his squad before re their tour r of China was over. On Thursday the weather gods were kinder, pera- slightly.
He gave Oleksandr Zinchenko, , Tosin Adarabioyo and Kelechi Iheanacho starts and the chance to impress mpress their new boss, while Guardiola’s opposite number Thomas Tuchel continued nued to blood his new recruits also as he had in their 4-1 win over Manchester United in the tournament’s with temtures dropping opening match in Shanghai last Friday.
Teenagers Ousmane Dembele (19) and Emre Mor ( 18) both started, alongside Marc Bartra, Dortmund’s off-season capture from Barcelona. the starting XI against United as Tuchel looked to put miles into legs.
But the goals came late - cused if he thought life was unfair, given the chances his side had been presented with, and the opportunity - missed - to complete a double over both shades of Manchester. RIO DE JANEIRO: A fan of Brazilian football star Neymar was arrested on Thursday (Friday in Manila) after being discovered in the laundry room of the team’s hotel in Goiania ahead of Saturday’s friendly against Japan.
“Hotel staff noticed something strange in his behavior and called told Agence France-Presse, adding that the culprit had wanted “to approach Neymar and the team”.
Passos said that the 22-year-old sports student had been arrested but was later released after being cautioned.
managed to get into the players’ hotel.
The Brazilian men’s team arrived in Goiania on Thursday morning from the Granja Comary national training center at Teresopolis, in the mountains near Rio.
Barcelona striker Neymar is one of team’s three players aged over 23 years. Brazil play South Africa, Iraq and Denmark in Group A of the Olympic tournament.