Pep Guardiola’s reign as Manchester City manager started with a 1-0 defeat in a friendly at his former club Bayern Munich on Wednesday in a game watched by 68,000 fans.
Erdal Ozturk scored the only goal of the game in the 76th minute although both sides were under-strength and under-cooked at the Allianz Arena with many of the leading players enjoying longer summer holidays following Euro 2016 and the Copa America.
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City captain Vincent Kompany was an unused substitute after recovering from the thigh surgery which kept out of the Belgium team at the Euros.
“I had a special feeling, it was like coming home once again,” said Guardiola, who has been replaced at Bayern by Carlo Ancelotti.
“I had three really great years here and it was great to come back. You’ve got a great manager and so many great players and I’m going to enjoy your matches on TV — all the best.”
There was a more positive result for one of City’s Premier League rivals on Wednesday night as Antonio Conte registered his first pre-season win as Chelsea manager.
Following a 2-0 defeat to Rapid Vienna in their opening match in Austria, Chelsea responded with a 3-0 victory against RZ Pellets, with goals from Bertrand Traore, Ruben Loftus-Cheek, and Nathaniel Chalobah.
Michy Batshuayi, the Belgian striker signed from Marseille for a reported £33 million (Dh160m), made his first appearance in a Chelsea shirt when he came off the bench in the second half.
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