The Belgian was forced off with a hamstring injury in the 1-0 Champions League victory over Inter as City secured a Treble last season.
Guardiola says that he could feature at some point on our 2023 Asia Tour with a game against Bayern Munich in Tokyo on Wednesday before we head to South Korea to face Atletico Madrid in Seoul on Sunday 30 July and UK viewers can watch both matches live on CITY+ and Recast.
HOW TO FOLLOW CITY’S 2023 ASIA TOUR
“He feels much, much much better,” the City boss said after the entertaining victory at Japan’s National Stadium.
“I don’t know about Bayern Munich or the next game against Atletico because he has to train, but he is so close to being back.”
Guardiola changed his entire outfield team at half-time while Bernardo Silva was replaced by Maximo Perrone midway through the second half, but the boss allayed any injury fears.
“I want to give minutes to Max and Bernardo takes conditions so quick,” he added. “At 4-2, I gave minutes to Max.”
Erling Haaland was also one of the half-time changes and took just seven minutes to get his first goal of preseason before adding a second in injury time to wrap up the win.
The Norwegian scored in his first match on last season’s tour to the United States and Guardiola says he has returned in even better condition this time.
“Compared to last season he is fitter,” he said. “He is much better than last season when he arrived. We would love him to be like last season.
“He is not injured which is good but he is still away from it like everyone. It is important to take the rhythm and the principles we work with all the time.
“He knows what he has to do, we know him and in a few weeks he will be in better condition than he is now.”
The boss felt that the game was a good challenge to improve his players’ sharpness against an impressive Yokohama F. Marinos side that is in strong contention for the J League title.
“It was a good test for us because we don’t have enough preparation and Yokohama played really well on the transitions,” he said.
“It was good for us. Many things we can improve of course, and no one is injured, which is the most important thing. Now we rest and prepare for Bayern Munich.”
WATCH OUR ASIA TOUR MATCHES ON CITY+ OR RECAST
CITY+ and Recast will exclusively show all pre-season tour games live in the UK.
After today’s meeting with Yokohama F. Marinos, fans in the UK and Germany can look forward to our Bayern Munich clash on 26 July.
We face Atletico Madrid on 30 July, with fans all over the world (except South Korea) able to watch the action.
CITY+ is also where you will find the entire catalogue of City Studios documentaries and vodcasts.
Watchable through our official website or app*, CITY+ is available via an annual subscription of £34.99 a year, saving you £24 on our monthly offering.
Choose monthly and pay £4.99 a month with the option to cancel anytime.
Official Cityzens and Season Ticket Members can subscribe annually for £30 a year, a saving of £29.
Alternatively, you can join us on Recast for a flexible, pay-per-view option on all the same exciting content found on CITY+.
Simply follow our official channel and pay for the matches, documentaries, full-match replays and vodcasts you want to see.
*Tour matches will not be available to watch on our TV app due to regional restrictions
