Tijjani Reijnders hits a brace as Man City crush Palermo in friendly | OneFootball

Manchester City overcame Palermo in a friendly match held at the Renzo Barbera Stadium. Haaland and Tijjani Reijnders (2x) scored the goals in the 3-0 victory for the English side. It was the final pre-season friendly for Pep Guardiola's side.

With the beautiful mountains of Palermo as a backdrop, the Citizens had a new face in goal: James Trafford started the game, with Ederson on the bench. Despite some threats from the Italians, Trafford kept a clean sheet and had a fairly uneventful 45 minutes on the pitch.

In the first half, City were expected to be a bit more dominant and, especially, efficient. But Erling Haaland was inevitable. The Norwegian received a pass from Rico Lewis in the box, controlled it and finished with his right foot to open the scoring.

Highlight to Rayan Cherki, the creative reference for Pep Guardiola's team in the first half. At halftime, the Spanish coach changed all players, except for the scorer. Haaland would stay on the field a bit longer.

However, it was not Haaland who scored the second goal of the match. After a lukewarm start to the second half, Brazilian Savinho made a play on the right and passed it to the middle for Reijnders, who struck it across to make it 2-0.

Even as the pace of the game dropped in the final stretch, Reijnders appeared again to seal the match. Savinho again came down the right and sent it to the middle, Mukasa set it up and Reijnders took it past the goalkeeper to finish the scoring. The Dutchman also came close to a hat-trick, but the game ended 3-0.