DE BRUYNE DISMANTLES REAL

AS MANCHESTER CITY’S players emerged from the Los Angeles Coliseum, chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak greeted them one by one. Al Mubarak has overseen the spending of more than £200million of Sheik Mansour’s fortune this summer, and here in front of a crowd of 93,098 was spectacular evidence that it is having an effect. City dismantled back-to-back European champions Real Madrid. Key players are still missing on both sides, not least Madrid’s superstar Cristiano Ronaldo. But putting four goals past a team like Real at any time is no mean feat. All the goals came in the second half. Kevin De Bruyne had a hand in the opening three goals for Nicolas Otamendi, Raheem Sterling and John Stones before young Brahim Diaz scored the fourth with a stunning strike. The mega-spend may go on if Pep Guardiola can do deals for Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez or Kylian Mbappe of Monaco. The City boss was very pleased with his new £35m Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson Moraes, who made a string of fine saves on his second outing here. ‘When you make performances like this, it helps us a lot,’ said Guardiola. ‘He will soon be the national goalkeeper of Brazil.’