Young Gunn: 20-year-old keeper the hero for Manchester City in Shenzhen
Angus Gunn saves three penalties as Pep Guardiola’s side win shoot-out against Borussia Dortmund
A young gun – 20-year-old goalkeeper Angus Gunn – was the hero for Manchester City in their clash against Borussia Dortmund in Shenzhen on Thursday night.
He saved three penalties as City won a shoot-out 6-5 after the scores were locked at 1-1 at the end of normal time at Longgang Stadium.
All the goalscoring action came late.
Sergio Aguero’s strike for City in the 79th minute was cancelled out in injury time by Christian Pulisic for Dortmund.
It was new coach Pep Guardiola’s first win after having taken charge of City and he expressed concern about the looming English Premier League season.
“Football today is tough,” said Guardiola. “Today you don’t have time to rest. I don’t know if we are going to kill our players but the schedule is the schedule. We start in two weeks. But I saw what I wanted to see [tonight] – we are aggressive and we want the ball.”
Guardiola admitted City were still a work in progress with just two preseason games completed so far, and two to come before the EPL action kicks off.
“I don’t want to complain but I would like to have more time,” said Guardiola. “But we have to adapt. Today we played one of the best teams in Europe – they are so strong. There are many things to improve.”
City’s only other scheduled match in mainland China – against Manchester United in Beijing – was scrapped after torrential rain left the Bird’s Nest pitch unplayable.
The pitch in Shenzhen for last night’s clash was also poor, and the uneven surface did not help the two sides.
Both teams had an undercooked look about them and it took the introduction of Aguero to give City a breakthrough.
But with just seconds left, in time added on, Pulisic grabbed an equaliser to force the game into penalties.
While Gunn could do little to prevent Pulisic’s goal, he proved the difference in the shoot-out.
Additional reporting by Agence France-Presse
