The 19-year-old midfielder has progressed all the way through the Club’s Academy to become our latest graduate after impressing Pep Guardiola on the recent tour of the USA.
He is joined in the starting lineup by James McAtee, who makes his first competitive start for the Club having previously made seven substitute appearances.
Matchday Centre | City v Manchester United
Of the starting XI, only Manuel Akanji, Ruben Dias and Jeremy Doku weren’t on the aforementioned tour of America.
Jack Grealish, who shone in the USA, misses out on the matchday squad as he’s not fully fit.
The Premier League champions are going for a seventh Community Shield success in our history and a first since 2019.
Teams
CITY XI: Ederson, Lewis, Akanji, Dias (C), Gvardiol, Kovacic, O’Reilly, McAtee, Bobb, Doku, Haaland
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Phillips, Ake, De Bruyne, Bernardo, Savinho, Nunes, Kabore
MANCHESTER UNITED XI: Onana, Dalot, Maguire, Evans, Martinez, Casemiro, Mainoo, Mount, Fernandes (c), Amad, Rashford
Subs: Bayindir, Collyer, Eriksen, McTominay, Pellistri, Antony, Garnacho, Sancho, Zirkzee
Tactics
Ederson will be protected by a back four of Rico Lewis, skipper Ruben Dias, Manuel Akanji and Josko Gvardiol.
Mateo Kovacic will be the deepest midfielder, with Nico O’Reilly and James McAtee either side of him in more advanced roles.
Oscar Bobb will operate down the right flank and Jeremy Doku on the left, all in support of central striker Erling Haaland.
O’Reilly’s rise
Nico O’Reilly has been the big success of this pre-season. The elegant, rangy midfielder is as much of a product of City’s Academy as it’s possible to be.
Born in Manchester, he joined the Club at the age of eight and has shone at every stage since.
He has experience as captain of the Under-18s, but it’s his composure, energy and silky first touch that most draw the eye when you watch him.
Just like McAtee, Lewis and Bobb all around him, O’Reilly is another example of the superior technical ability required to make the grade at City.
Curtain raiser
The Community Shield is a trophy in its own right of course, and one that Pep Guardiola and his players would love to win.
But the reality, as Guardiola has mentioned in recent press conferences, is that City will not be at full tilt just yet.
With more players than anyone else at Euro 2024, and several players making it all the way to the final, it was a young squad that played the four matches in the USA on the recent pre-season tour.
That theme continues today, with the likes of O’Reilly and McAtee making Guardiola‘s starting lineup.
City have dominated the Premier League in the last seven years, winning six titles. However, we haven’t won the Community Shield since 2019.
So no matter the result today, Guardiola will be doing his all to get us in the best possible place for what’s to come.
Match stats
● This will be the third time Manchester City and Manchester United have met in the Community Shield – Manchester United have won both previous matches, 1-0 in 1956 and 3-2 in 2011.
● This is the eighth time in the history of the Community Shield that the match has been a repeat of the previous season’s FA Cup final, after 1957 (Man Utd v Aston Villa), 1977 (Man Utd v Liverpool), 1985 (Everton v Man Utd), 1986 (Everton v Liverpool), 1988 (Liverpool v Wimbledon), 2007 (Man Utd v Chelsea) and 2017 (Arsenal v Chelsea).
● Of the last eight occasions the Community Shield has been between the previous season’s champions and FA Cup winners, the team to have won the FA Cup has won the shield seven times, with the exception being Manchester City’s 2-0 win over Chelsea in 2018.
● This is the fourth consecutive year Manchester City are appearing in the Community Shield, though we failed to win the trophy in any of 2021, 2022 or 2023. Only Manchester United (1998 to 2001) have failed to win the Community Shield in four consecutive years.
● Both Manchester City and Manchester United have been runners-up nine times in Community Shield matches – whoever fails to win the trophy this year will be the first club to do so on 10 occasions.
● Man City striker Erling Haaland has been involved in nine goals in six appearances against Manchester United, scoring six and assisting three. A goal today would be his first at Wembley.
● Man City’s Phil Foden has been involved in seven goals in his last six appearances against Manchester United, scoring six and assisting one. Only against Brighton (8) has he scored more club career goals than he has against the Red Devils (6).
