Manchester City vs Celtic (Pre-Season Friendly): Match Preview, Team News, Head to Head, How to Watch | OneFootball

Manchester City kickstart their pre-season tour of the United States with a clash against Scottish Premier League champions Celtic in Chapel Hill, North Carolina.

Following an unprecedented 2023/24 season which saw the blues retain a record-breaking fourth consecutive Premier League title, Manchester City commence their new campaign with a friendly against Brendan Rodgers’ side.

With many key players given extended breaks this summer due to the respective international tournaments, pre-season will mainly be used as a chance to give youth a run out and show what they are capable of – something Pep Guardiola has alluded to ahead of the game.

The Manchester City boss has also confirmed that he wants James McAtee involved in his first-team squad this season. “He’s a player I have a high, high opinion of him, and I would like if he can insert properly with the team,” Guardiola stated during his pre-match press conference.

While Manchester City’s youngsters will be given a chance, Tuesday night’s game is likely to involve the likes of Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish, who have not seen any match action in almost two months.

City’s only summer signing as of yet, Savinho, has not travelled with the squad to the States and will not feature at all in pre-season, while Oscar Bobb and Rico Lewis are among the academy stars who will be ones to look out for.

With that being said, here is everything you need to know ahead of the Celtic clash at the Kenan Memorial Stadium in Manchester City’s opening game of the pre-season tour in the United States!

Match Details

Manchester City take on Celtic at the Kenan Memorial Stadium on Wednesday 24th July, with kick-off scheduled for 00:30 BST, and 19:30 EDT.

Team News

Ederson, Stefan Ortega Moreno and Scott Carson will be the three goalkeepers in contention with each other in the United States, while senior players such as Kalvin Phillips, Erling Haaland and Jack Grealish are all involved in the initial travelling squad.

Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic are set to fly out to the USA separately to the rest of the initial squad, but should be involved at a later stage with Manchester City already highlighting the second contest against AC Milan as a potential return date.

All eyes will be on the youth though, with the likes of Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb, and Micah Hamilton looking to impress in this one.

Head to Head

The last time these two squared off was in the UEFA Champions League group stage during Pep Guardiola’s first season at the club, featuring an instant classic 3-3 draw at Celtic Park, with goals from Raheem Sterling, Fernandinho and Nolito.

Pep Guardiola has defeated Brendan Rodgers in four of the last five encounters between the pair, keeping a clean sheet in three of those four. Manchester City were 6-3 victors in the other occasion at the Etihad Stadium in 2021.

How to Watch

Tuesday night’s match against Celtic will be live streamed on the official Manchester City website on City+, with kick-off scheduled for 00:30 UK time and 19:30 local time over in the United States.

City Xtra will also be providing live coverage of the match on all of our social media channels, with a live watchalong show presented by Jordan Rothwell available on YouTube.