Manchester City lost to Barcelona on penalties in a pre-season friendly after a storm delayed the start in Orlando, USA, by 80 minutes.
Fans in the sellout crowd of 63,237 were forced to take shelter under the stands at Camping World Stadium before the game began.
Both sides were missing key players, although City’s line-up included Erling Haaland, the Premier League’s top scorer in 2023-24 with 27 goals, and Jack Grealish, with the latter failing to make England’s Euro 2024 squad, scoring for Pep Guardiola’s City.
Pau Victor put Barcelona ahead before young 19-year-old English midfielder Nico O’Reilly equalized. Grealish struck the top corner after Pablo Torre restored Barcelona’s lead.
The match went to penalties, with Barcelona winning 4–1 after Kalvin Phillips and Jacob Wright saw their penalty attempts saved.
City are yet to win in pre-season, but Guardiola has chosen to focus on the positives and said he was pleased with Grealish’s “aggressive” performance.
“I know he’s good at controlling the ball, but he took four or five shots,” said the City coach.
“He has to prove himself, but I’m very pleased with the game he played.”
City’s final game on their US tour will be against Chelsea in Columbus, Ohio, on Saturday (10:30pm BST). They face Manchester United in the Community Shield at Wembley on August 10 (3pm).
