Man City thrash Real Madrid, but Man United lose to Barcelona

Manchester City and Manchester United continued their American adventure overnight, but the two rivals enjoyed vastly differing fortunes.

The Citizens produced a fine performance to smash Real Madrid 4-1, while United slumped to a 1-0 loss against Barcelona.

For Blues boss Pep Guardiola, he must be feeling very confident about the upcoming season.

With new-boys Danilo and Kyle Walker sprinting up and down the flanks, City were excellent in seeing off the reigning La Liga and Champions League winners.

And it was no B-team from the Spanish outfit, who started Gareth Bale, Karim Benzema and Isco up front.

Indeed eight of Real’s starting line-up were in the starting XI for the Champions League final.

Four goals in 29 second-half minutes did the business for City, who will now play Tottenham Hotspur in Tennessee on Saturday before flying back to Europe.

As for United, Jose Mourinho was quick to claim that losing to Barcelona was ‘important’ for his side.

A goal from the possibly Paris Saint-Germain-bound Neymar on 31 minutes proved the difference in Maryland.

The scoreline could have been worse too, but for a string of saves from David de Gea.

Nevertheless, in classic Mourinho fashion he appeared unfazed, saying: “Playing against teams like Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester City – it would be very bad to go home with just victories.”

Of course it would Jose…

We know what the special one is getting at though, and he’ll have discovered more about his side in defeat to Barcelona than the games against Real or City.

Next up for United is Valerenga in Oslo on Sunday, and Sampdoria in Dublin on Wednesday, before they take on Real again in the Super Cup on August 8.

All Odds and Markets are correct as of the date of publishing