The Blues face Girona in a friendly at the Academy Stadium at 13:00 (UK) on Saturday afternoon, ahead of next week’s Carabao Cup fourth round clash with Liverpool.
You can watch this weekend’s match live on CITY+ or Recast, with a full Matchday Live show to preview and analyse everything that happens on the pitch.
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In the studio, Natalie Pike will be joined by Shaun Goater, Paul Dickov and Michael Brown to review the action and play some City-centric games.
Here we take a look at what the key features of the day will be...
A novel experience
These days, it’s not often City come up against an opponent we’re not used to facing but Girona are exactly that.
Our Catalan sister club are currently in mid-table in La Liga but tend to spend more time battling relegation than seeking European qualification.
For that reason, we have only played the Estadi Montilivi side once previously - a friendly in Catalonia in 2017. That ended 1-0 this weekend’s visitors with a 14th minute Portu goal splitting the sides.
Only four players still at City got on the pitch that day - John Stones, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden and Ilkay Gundogan.
However, the two current squads do have some familiarity with each other after we used Girona’s La Vinya training ground during a warm weather camp in August.
Youngsters stepping up
City were the most represented Premier League club at the World Cup as 16 of our players went to Qatar.
Only Julian Alvarez remains with the third place play-off and final still to come this weekend.
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However, many of those who were in the Middle East are yet to return to training as Guardiola seeks to give them appropriate rest ahead of a gruelling second half of the season.
That inevitably means opportunities for youngsters, but who will it be that steps up?
Last week’s training camp in Abu Dhabi involved seven first team players and the entire Elite Development Squad.
While the likes of Riyad Mahrez, Stefan Ortega Moreno and Sergio Gomez were always central to this season’s plans, some of those without previous experience of senior football may well have impressed Guardiola and his coaches enough to get a go in this fixture.
All will be revealed when the teams are announced ahead of kick-off on Saturday.
You will be able to find out the team news first by following our Matchday Centre on mancity.com and the official app, where we will have full coverage from 11am and throughout the afternoon.
Cold conditions
Winter has well and truly arrived in Manchester. The city has been consumed by sub-zero temperatures all week, leaving frost on the ground.
Our Academy Stadium pitch played host to Wednesday night’s FA Youth Cup victory over Blackburn Rovers so shouldn’t be affected too heavily, but there’s no doubt it could impact the players.
As for many it will be their first game in a while, there will be a focus on ensuring they protect their bodies in particular from muscle injuries.
For those attending the Academy Stadium, let’s hope some scintillating attacking football can keep you warm.
previously at the Academy Stadium
With Euro 2020 in play and COVID restrictions still in place in some places around the world, the Blues played three pre-season matches at the Academy Stadium in the summer of 2021/22.
The first was a 2-0 win over Preston North End thanks to goals from Mahrez and Sam Edozie.
A 4-0 victory over Barnsley came a few days later with Mahrez and Edozie both scoring again. They were joined on the scoresheet that day by Ben Knight and Nathan Ake.
Edozie and Mahrez again found the back of the net in the 4-1 defeat of Blackpool before a second half Ilkay Gundogan brace made it three wins from three at the Academy Stadium.
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