A family reunion at Nou Camp sees Pep Guardiola heading back to Barcelona to take on his beloved club as a Manchester City manager in a mammoth mid-season friendly.
After last season’s trophyless campaign, Barcelona opened their checkbook in the summer to land numerous top-class players, including Jules Kounde, Raphinha, Franck Kessie, Andreas Christensen, and Robert Lewandowski. The latter was on the scoresheet twice as the ‘Blaugrana’ thrashed domestic rivals Real Sociedad 4-1 at the weekend to get off the mark in the 2022/23 La Liga season. Following a 6-0 demolition of Liga MX side UNAM Pumas in their final pre-season friendly, many had thought Rayo Vallecano’s visit to Camp Nou on the opening La Liga weekend would be a walk in the park for Xavi Hernandez’s side. However, Barca could only manage a tepid goalless draw and are now aiming to redeem themselves to the home crowd in their first meeting with Man City since 2016.
Unlike Barcelona, back-to-back Premier League champions Manchester City started the new league season with a brace of victories by an aggregate score of 6-0. But, Pep Guardiola’s side had to haul back a two-goal deficit to hold Newcastle United to an enthralling 3-3 draw at the weekend. Marquee striker Erling Haaland returned to the scoreboard after bagging a match-winning double against West Ham United on matchday one. Though he’s unlikely to make the starting line-up at Camp Nou as Guardiola looks to rest several first-team stars, Man City will be out to defy their underwhelming scoring ratio in Catalonia. The ‘Cityzens’ have netted a mere two goals in their three previous visits to Barcelona (L3).
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