City edge Dortmund on penalties in Shenzhen
SHENZHEN, China, July 28, (AFP): Pep Guardiola got his first taste of victory as Manchester City’s manager Thursday night after beating Borussia Dortmund on penalties in a friendly, but expressed concern about the looming English Premier League season.
“Football today is tough,” said Guardiola, whose side beat their German opposition in the southern Chinese city of Shenzhen. 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 pre-season games completed so far, and two to come before the EPL action kicks off.
A tap-in from Sergio Aguero for City on 79 minutes was cancelled out after Christian Pulisic fired one home for Dortmund, through a crowded box, with six minutes of added time gone.
City keeper Angus Gunn was the hero of penalties with three saves, including the one sealing their victory when he palmed away Mikel Merino’s attempt.
Guardiola
It was a lively enough affair in front of a crowd of around 32,000 at the Shenzhen Universiade Stadium, with both managers drawing deep on their substitutes benches as time wore on.
Robbed of the chance for a derby against rivals Manchester United by rain and a ropey pitch on Monday, City’s Spanish manager had been desperate to get some game time into his squad before their tour of China was over. On Thursday the weather gods were kinder, with temperatures dropping slightly.
He gave Oleksandr Zinchenko, Tosin Adarabioyo and Kelechi Iheanacho starts and the chance to impress their new boss, while Guardiola’s opposite number Thomas Tuchel continued to blood his new recruits also as he had in their 4-1 win over Manchester United in the tournament’s opening match in Shanghai last Friday.
See Also Page 40 PALLEKELE, Sri Lanka, July 28, (AFP): Scoreboard at stumps on the third day of the first Test between Sri Lanka and Australia in Pallekele on Thursday:
SRI LANKA 1st innings 117 (D de Silva 24, K Perera 20; Josh Hazlewood 3-21, Nathan Lyon 3-12)
1st innings 203 all out (A. Voges 47; Rangana Herath 4-49, Lakshan Sandakan 4-58
2nd innings (Overnight 6 for one)
Fall of wicket: 1-6 (Perera), 2-6 (Karunaratne), 3-45 (Silva), 4-86 (Mathews), 5-203 (Chandimal), 6-274 (de Silva)
Bowling: Starc 12-4-442, Hazlewood 13-3-41-0, O’Keefe 16.2-3-42-1, Lyon 26-2-98-2, Warner 1-0-100, Voges 1.4-0-3-0, Marsh 9-1-33-1, Smith 1-0-1-0
To bat: Herath, Sandakan, Pradeep Toss: Sri Lanka Umpires: Richard Kettleborough (ENG) and Sundaram Ravi (IND)
Third Umpire: Chris Gaffaney (NZL)
Match Referee: Broad (ENG)