Manchester City suffered their second consecutive pre-season defeat on Saturday night, losing 3-2 to AC Milan at Yankee Stadium.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring for the reigning Premier League champions in the 19th minute, but Milan turned the match on its head with two goals from 22-year-old Lorenzo Colombo within four minutes of each other.
City, playing with a predominantly youthful line-up, lost control of the game and managed just three shots on target, but were still on their way to a draw when James McAtee headed home the equaliser in the 56th minute.
Milan kept up the pressure on their opponents and eventually deservedly won thanks to a goal from Marco Nasti, despite the help of Ederson.
Pep Guardiola won’t lose too much sleep over this late July result, with American star Christian Pulisic making a late appearance. But here are Jake Nisse’s winners and losers from the New York game.
Winner: Erling Haaland 7/10
The Norwegian striker has now scored two goals in two friendlies, finding the net on Saturday with a side-foot strike from inside the penalty area.
He played just 45 minutes, coming off before City and Milan swapped kits, but certainly made his presence felt. He will be disappointed not to have added a second after a terrible back pass from Lorenzo Colombo when the latter striker was strangely close to his own goal.
All in all, the match went as usual for Haaland and he gave the American fans a goal to cheer about.
Erling Haaland scored in the first half after teammate Oscar Bobb found him in the penalty area
Winner: Oscar Bobb 8/10
Bobb, who set up Haaland’s goal from the right, was City’s most dangerous man that night.
He was constantly running at defenders and often successfully sliding past them. In the first half he should have scored after he had deviated to the left and had organised a switch with Maximo Perrone.
Pep Guardiola was full of praise for him after the game and I think the 21-year-old could become a regular this season.
Bobb was City’s most dangerous man in NYC and he could get more playing time next season
Winner: Samuel Chukwueze 8/10
Colombo was the one who scored the first two goals for Milan, but Chukwueze took care of the preparations.
The Nigerian provided his teammate with two precise passes from his left inside position and twice delivered a beautiful cross at the far post, which his teammate was then able to poke into the goal.
A real threat with the end product as a result.
Loser: Jack Grealish 4/10
In a team full of lads (he, Haaland, Bobb and Lewis were the only first-team regulars in the outfield) you would have liked to see Grealish take more attacking responsibility, but he was largely anonymous in New York.
Guardiola said it was still ‘step by step’ to get Grealish back to peak fitness and performance level, and that was evident with the youngster Bobb being the City winger who stood out.
There was a moment in the second half where he went all the way to the City goal to get a couple of touches on the ball, which summed up his night quite well.
It was a quiet evening for Jack Grealish as he achieved little in 79 minutes
Loser: Rico Lewis 5/10
It wasn’t the best night for the young defender, as he let Chukwueze play with his left foot for his first assist and left no one to mark Milan’s second goal.
In fairness, he also made a good block from the edge of the penalty area in the second half, but ultimately two of Milan’s goals came from crosses from his left.
It lasted the full 90 minutes, but there is room for improvement.
Loser: Kalvin Phillips 5/10
City’s forgotten man only played the second half but provided two very unfortunate moments.
In the first leg, the midfielder lost the ball just outside his own penalty area in a particularly difficult moment, almost giving Milan a goal, but City eventually closed the opposition’s corner.
The second time he found himself in unfamiliar territory, as late in the second half he found space in the penalty area and was met with a pass on his chest, but he tried (in vain) to clumsily get the ball in front of him.
He was unable to fire a shot on target at that point and City ultimately had no answer to Milan’s third and final goal.