FC Bayern face a crunch encounter in the first friendly of the Audi Summer Tour 2023. The Reds play the reigning treble winners Manchester City at the National Stadium in Tokyo on Wednesday (12:30 CEST). It is a rerun of last year's Champions League quarter-final and a true test for the team under head coach Thomas Tuchel. fcbayern.com brings you a profile of the Sky Blues.
Bayern with Alphonso Davies and Matthijs de Ligt were on the losing side in the Champions League quarter-final against the Sky Blues.
Serial champions of England
The German record champions are facing one of the best teams in Europe in Manchester City Football Club founded in 1894. The Sky Blues are still behind rivals Manchester United, Liverpool and Chelsea in terms of trophies won but the Cityzens have lifted a large number of titles in England over the past decade. Manchester City have secured six of their nine league titles in the past ten years and developed into the absolute top team in the Premier League. Six EFL Cup wins plus two FA cups and two FA Community Shields complete the picture of success.
All good things come in threes: Following on from being champions of England in 2021 and 2022, the team under captain Ilkay Gündoğan (now at FC Barcelona) secured the third Premier League title in succession last term.
Champions of Europe
In addition to the dominance at national level, Manchester City developed into one of the absolute top teams on the European stage over the past ten years but again and again failed to secure the Champions League title. That changed in May of this year after previous appearances in four quarter-finals, two semi-finals and one final. The team under coach Pep Guardiola completed a very impressive Champions League campaign with a 1-0 win against Inter Milan in the final in Istanbul to lift the UCL trophy for the first time in the club's history.
Former Dortmund player Erling Haaland won the Champions League with Manchester City.
A group of difference makers
The Cityzens squad includes numerous players who can be described as world class. From the defence through midfield to the attack, the English star-studded team show immense quality as well as balance. While the keeper Ederson and the back three of Rúben Dias, Manuel Akanji and John Stones provide the necessary stability, Kevin de Bruyne and Bernardo Silva bring creativity into the game of the reigning treble winners. Up front, the 21-year-old Erling Haaland has incredible quality is as a striker. The 6'5" Norwegian scored 36 goals in his first season in the Premier League to break the long-standing record of Andy Cole and Alan Shearer (34 goals each) and thereby enter the history books of English club football in his first campaign.
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