Pep Guardiola name-dropped seven players after Manchester City won their final pre-season match out in the US against Chelsea.
City ran out 4-2 victors in Colombus, Ohio in front of 71,000 fans.
Erling Haaland bagged a hat-trick for City, and there were more really exciting showings from some of the club’s young players.
It was a great way to round off the tour, and nice for the players to finally experience that winning feeling after failing to beat Celtic, AC Milan and Barcelona.
Even though results are not important, it will have been very satisfying for the players to defeat a fellow Premier League rival.
After last night’s game, Pep Guardiola was left delighted, and he spoke about seven players in his post-match press conference.
Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb have been ‘unbelievable’ on Man City US tour
This was just the performance and result City wanted before heading back to the UK.
City took an early lead through Haaland via the penalty spot, after a retake. He then made it 2-0 inside just five minutes.
It was a frantic start to the game and the chaos rarely relented.
Chelsea wasted some gilt-edged chances and also presented City with some brilliant chances of their own.
Just before the hour mark, the brilliant Oscar Bobb made sure of the win after a sloppy ball from Raheem Sterling which was intercepted by James McAtee. McAtee then grabbed a second assist for Haaland’s third.
McAtee was very impressive on the night, and was one of seven players mentioned by the manager after the game.
Pep said (via mancity.com): “Of course Kalvin grew, and Erling grew and Jack had two incredible games.
“Rico has been unbelievable and Oscar both unbelievable. Today McAtee made his potential as a football player, Nico O’Reilly the same played at a high level and they’re young. We’re happy because all the young players made some minutes with us.”
Exciting times
This was a big win in pre-season for City and after the game, Pep confirmed that McAtee and O’Reilly will now be first-team options in 2024/25 (via MEN journalist Joe Bray).
That is extremely exciting, and just shows how much they have both impressed over the last few weeks.
City have been quiet in the transfer window. But seemingly, there will not be any need to sign more players after Savinho given the emergence of more young talent.
It will be especially exciting to see McAtee finally feature in City’s first-team.
The club have long been excited about him and he does now look ready to push on. And what a moment for O’Reilly, who only made his debut against Celtic. He had posted on social media earlier this week to say that his ‘dreams were coming true’, and now he’ll be a first-team option.
