Manchester City had to come from two goals down to secure a thrilling 5-3 victory over Yokohama F Marinos in their opening pre-season friendly at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Sunday.
Two goals inside the first 37 minutes from Anderson Lopes and Ken Matsubara put the hosts into a surprised lead, but City restored parity on the stroke of half time courtesy of two quickfire strikes from John Stones and Julian Alvarez.
Normal services resumed for goal machine Erling Haaland as he completed the comeback for City seven minutes after the interval, before Rodri – who netted the winner in last season’s Champions League final – added a fourth 20 minutes from time.
City were caught off guard in the final five minutes as Yokohama pulled one back through Kenta Inoue, but Haaland restored the visitors’ two-goal cushion by netting his second of the match to help Pep Guardiola’s side make a winning start on their tour of Asia.
Amid reports of a possible move to Bayern Munich, Kyle Walker was named in the Citizens’ starting lineup as captain, and there was also a start for summer signing Mateo Kovacic, while star names including Haaland, Rodri, Ederson, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne all began on the substitutes’ bench but came on in the second half.
The treble winners made a somewhat rusty start to proceedings against a Yokohama side a third of the way through their J1 League campaign and who pressed high with real urgency from the off.
A driven long-range strike from Cole Palmer forced a smart save from Yokohama goalkeeper Jun Ichimori on the 25-minute mark, but the hosts went up the other end just two minutes later to break the deadlock, with Lopes’s initial shot parried by Stefan Ortega before the Brazilian forward skipped past Stones and slotted the ball into the bottom corner.
Yokohama scored a second 10 minutes later when a brilliant cross from the left from Katsuya Nagato picked out Matsubara in acres of space running in from the right towards the centre of the penalty area, and he calmly placed a first-time finish past Ortega to stun the Citizens towards the end of the half.
However, City responded well and pulled one back on the 40-minute mark when Alvarez teed up Stones just inside the penalty area to place a sweet strike into the top-left corner.
Alvarez then netted a goal of his own just three minutes later when Kalvin Phillips caught Ichimori in possession inside his own six-yard box, before the ball deflected into the path of City’s No.19 to fire home the equaliser from close range.
The entertainment continued into the second half after City made 10 changes at the break, and it took just seven minutes for last season’s 52-goal marksman Haaland to make the net ripple, with the Norwegian receiving a through-ball from fellow substitute Phil Foden on the half-turn before firing a low strike into the far corner to put Guardiola’s men ahead.
City’s second-half XI took control of proceedings, with youngster Oscar Bobb a livewire down the right flank and lynchpin Rodri conducting the game from midfield, and it was the Spaniard who added a fourth for Guardiola’s side in the 71st minute when he drove towards the edge of the penalty area before curling a low strike into the bottom-right corner.https://420aad6e988cc0fa5a900254a98cd354.safeframe.googlesyndication.com/safeframe/1-0-40/html/container.html?n=0
The tempo of the match slowed down heading towards the 90-minute mark but there was still time for more goalmouth action at both ends, and Yokohama caught City napping four minutes from time when a miscommunication between Ortega and Rico Lewis allowed Inoue to tap the ball into an open net.
However, City sealed the victory in the second minute of stoppage time when Bobb and Joao Cancelo combined down the right flank, before the latter rolled a stunning cross towards the back post for Haaland to tap home a simple finish.
Man City’s second pre-season friendly will also take place at the National Stadium when they lock horns with Bayern Munich next Wednesday.
