Man City announce friendly fixture day before World Cup final

Manchester City have announced that they will take on Serie A side Girona at the Academy Stadium on Saturday December 17, the day before the World Cup final in Qatar.

Girona, who are currently part of the City Football Group, will travel to Manchester later this month as the two teams go head to head in a friendly match. Pep Guardiola will have the chance to see a host of his stars in action, as he looks to put his side through their paces just five days ahead of their Carabao Cup fourth-round tie with Liverpool.

The likes of Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan are all likely to be available to feature. With the match taking place just one day before the final in Qatar, the make-up of the players available to the Catalan manager will vastly depend on how far each of the City stars go with their respective countries.

As the tournament enters the quarter-final stages, Nathan Ake, Jack Grealish, Kyle Walker, Phil Foden, Kalvin Phillips, Julian Alvarez, Ederson, Joao Cancelo, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva are the remaining City stars that are left in the competition.

The 4,998 capacity Academy Stadium crowd will likely see a blend of youth and experience being used by Guardiola. The game will be City’s first since the disappointing 2-1 defeat by Brentford at the Etihad, as the Blues entered the World Cup break five points behind league leaders Arsenal.

City will be eager to set the record straight after the World Cup draws to a close, as the Blues look to remind everyone exactly why they have won four out of the last five Premier League titles going into the second part of the season.