De Bruyne and Sterling strike to down Yokohama as Manchester City wraps up pre-season

Manchester City continued its pre-season campaign with a 3-1 win against Yokohama F. Marinos on Saturday.

Published : Jul 27, 2019 20:08 IST

Raheem Sterling was on the scoresheet for the third time this pre-season.
Raheem Sterling was on the scoresheet for the third time this pre-season.
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Raheem Sterling was on the scoresheet for the third time this pre-season.

Kevin De Bruyne and Raheem Sterling scored as Manchester City beat Yokohama F. Marinos 3-1 in its final pre-season friendly.

Pep Guardiola named what looked close to his strongest XI in China on Saturday, although Ederson, Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero remained absent following international duty at the Copa America.

Sterling restored City's lead after Keita Endo cancelled out De Bruyne's opener, with Lukas Nmecha adding a late third for the out-of-sorts Premier League champions.

Guardiola's men are next in action against Champions League winner Liverpool in the Community Shield at Wembley next Sunday.

Read: Two-goal Perez powers Barcelona past Vissel Kobe

City found an early groove and Bernardo Silva set up De Bruyne to cut inside and fire home the opener in the 18th minute.

But Ange Postecoglou's side quickly hit back, with Claudio Bravo only able to parry Marcos Junior's effort to Endo for a simple tap-in.

City was showing some sloppiness in possession but retook the lead when De Bruyne threaded a pass through for Sterling to strike.

Sterling thought he had extended City's lead early in the second half, collecting Kyle Walker's pass to smash a fine finish into the top-right corner, but the offside flag denied him.

Yokohama could have snatched an unlikely draw only for Teruhito Nakagawa to pull a shot wide from a presentable position.

Makito Ito then wasted an even better opening to equalise after the ball broke to him in the box, the substitute's mishit saved by Bravo.

And City added a third goal in injury time when Adrian Bernabe's low right-wing cross was bundled home at the back post by fellow youngster Nmecha.

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