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

Manchester City travel to Italy this weekend to take on fellow City Football Group outfit Palermo in their only publicly-broadcasted pre-season friendly ahead of the 2025/26 campaign.

Pep Guardiola’s side have already returned to action since their last-16 defeat to Al Hilal at the summer’s FIFA Club World Cup in the United States, edging past Preston North End in a behind-closed-doors friendly.

The Championship outfit travelled to the CFA last weekend with the two sides separated by a single goal from Rico Lewis, assisted by Oscar Bobb, as Pep Guardiola played two different line-ups during the encounter leaving out Jack Grealish and James McAtee entirely.

The last competitive fixture saw Manchester City crash out early at the Club World Cup at the hands of the aforementioned Saudi Arabian club, ending their hopes of going all the way Stateside earlier than perhaps many would have expected.

Now, as Manchester City intensify their preparations for the brand new competitive schedule, here is everything you need to know ahead of the encounter at the Renzo Barbera Stadium!

Match Details

Palermo and Manchester City face eachother for the very first time in their respective histories in a landmark moment for the City Football Group, with the contest in Sicily marketed as the ‘Anglo Palermitan Trophy’.

The contest will take place at Palermo’s Stadio Renzo Barbera, with kick-off scheduled for 20:00 BST/21:00 CEST on Saturday 9 August.

Team News

Pep Guardiola and Manchester City have named a 22-man travelling squad for the trip to Palermo this weekend, leaving 10 names back in the north-west of England and including 17-year-old Divine Mukasa.

The full travelling squad list is confirmed to be as follows: Ederson, Trafford; Lewis, Khusanov, Nunes, Dias, Akanji, Stones, Ake, Ait-Nouri, O’Reilly; Nico, Gundogan, Bernardo, Reijnders, Mukasa, Cherki; Bobb, Savinho, Marmoush, Haaland, Doku.

As for the 10 names sidelined from action alongside official reasoning from the Etihad Stadium, James McAtee, Jack Grealish, and Stefan Ortega have all been left out largely owing to their uncertain futures at the Etihad Stadium.

Described by the club as ‘not fully-fit’, a quartet of Josko Gvardiol, Rodri, Phil Foden, and Claudio Echeverri have all been left out of the squad, while an injured trio of Mateo Kovacic, Kalvin Phillips, and Marcus Bettinelli has also been confirmed.

Head To Head

Palermo and Manchester City will be meeting for the very first time in any friendly or competitive setting in their respective histories.

Press Conference Quotes

On injuries: “Phil [Foden] was doing really good but he had a problem with a knock on his ankle that’s why as a precaution we did it.

“Rodri’s getting better but he had a big injury in the last game against Al-Hilal and for the last five or six weeks. He’s training right now and in the last two or three days is better. Hopefully maybe the international break is when he will be really really fit. Hopefully, in the games [before then] he can play some minutes.

“But the important thing is to not have pain because we don’t want him to be come back and injured, come back and injured. We will try desperately to avoid that but he’s training the last two or three days with us and that’s good.”

On whether both players would be available for the Premier League opener against Wolves: “90 minutes for Rodri I don’t think so. Phil, hopefully, it depends on the problem but it’s a long week so hopefully.”

On midfield options amid injury concerns: “We have three [midfielders] I would say with [Mateo] Kova injured until September or October – hopefully earlier. Rodri was out for six months and Nico. The other ones can play there but they are attacking midfielders, more that can play in the box.

“[Ilkay] Gundo can play there, Tijji [Reijnders] can play there but I think that when everybody is fit, they have the opportunity to play more up front because we have Phil and [Rayan] Cherki, we have a lot.

“That is good this season, I saw the schedule in my office and I said after September its every three days, every three days so at the end we will need players.”

How To Watch

Viewers in the United Kingdom and around the world will be able to watch the game live via Manchester City’s official subscription-only streaming channel, CITY+.

Those in Italy will also have the option of watching proceedings live through either SKY Go Italia, NOW TV, or Sky Sport Calcio in addition to CITY+.

You can find full global TV listings for the pre-season friendly HERE!

City Xtra will have full live coverage available on our X (formerly Twitter), Facebook, and Instagram channels throughout matchday, with content also provided on cityxtra.co.uk!