International Champions Cup Preview and Odds – Manchester City vs Real Madrid

July 27, 2017 04:00pm

Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum

Recent form (All competitions)

Manchester City: LWWWW

Real Madrid: LWWWW

Manchester City will seek to secure their first pre-season win of the summer when they take on Real Madrid at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum on Thursday. The Spanish side also kicked off their American tour with a defeat and will be equally keen to get a win on the board.

City’s first game in the USA ended in defeat as they fell 2-0 to fierce rivals Manchester United. That was the first time that the prestigious Manchester derby fixture had been held on foreign soil. The Citizens will hoping for an improved performance this time out before they once again face English sides in the form of Spurs and West Ham before kicking off their Premier League campaign away to newly promoted Brighton and Hove Albion.

Pep Guardiola is expected to give some game time to new arrivals Danilo, Kyle Walker and Ederson – however, Bernardo Silva has not yet joined up with the squad following his Confederations Cup exploits

Real Madrid have just one new face in their squad with Theo Hernandez having made the cross-city switch from Atletico, having spent last season on loan at Alaves. On the flip side Danilo, James Rodriguez and Alvaro Morata have all departed for pastures new with the former likely to line up against his old club in this game.

Significantly, the entire U21 team has flown out to join the senior squad so there could be plenty of fresh faces on display on Thursday. One player who will not be making an appearance is Ballon d’Or winner Cristiano Ronaldo who is still in recovery mode following his Confederations Cup participation.

Los Blancos were beaten on penalties by Manchester United in their opening game of this tour and will face old foes Barcelona in the next game. The game against the Catalan side should act as something of a dress rehearsal for the upcoming Spanish Super Cup in August.

Prediction

Both sides had shaky starts to their campaign but City will be boosted by some new arrivals while the Spanish team could field an experimental line-up. As a result, the English team look slightly better value.

Back City to win at 5/2 with Betfair.