Impressive Manchester City romp to 4-1 win over Real Madrid in LA friendly

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City has spent big to bolster their defence this summer, but showed they will be a force to reckon with at the other end this season in a 4-1 friendly win over Real Madrid on Wednesday.

A second-half blitz in front of 93,000 fans at Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum saw City secure their first pre-season victory in style.

Real were unable to contain Guardiola’s side once they got their noses in front early in the second half.

The £28.5 million (HK$292.3 million) spent by City on Nicolas Otamendi two years ago now almost seems like small change after City have splashed out around £50 million each on Kyle Walker, John Stones and Benjamin Mendy over the last 12 months.

But after Otamendi pounced from a couple of yards out to smash the ball into the net, the entire complexion of the International Champions Cup encounter changed.

Until that point, Real had been the more dangerous side in an end-to-end encounter, with Isco, in particular, causing City’s back five problems with his range of passing.

City’s new £32 million keeper Ederson – culpable in last week’s friendly defeat to neighbours Manchester United – was forced to produce smart saves to deny Isco, Karim Benzema and Casemiro, with the latter also heading against the post.