Man City 6 Kitchee 1: Champions ease to victory amid Hong Kong protests

1/31
Tom Doyle24 July 2019

Manchester City eased to a 6-1 victory over Kitchee FC in Hong Kong on Wednesday, with the pre-season friendly marked by protests concering the ongoing political unrest in the region.

City made a lively start at the Hong Kong Stadium, with Pep Guardiola fielding a strong side on a hot and humid evening and the Premier League champions' quality was soon evident.

Raheem Sterling saw a shot loop onto the crossbar inside the opening two minutes and Kevin De Bruyne forced a good save from Kitchee goalkeeper Guo Jianqiao from a free-kick.

City took the lead in the 14th minute when Sterling played in David Silva and the Spaniard calmly lifted a shot over Jianqiao.

The game was halted after 15 minutes as Kitchee substituted Kim Dong-jin, their veteran player who is retiring.

He was presented with a City shirt by Guardiola as he left the field and a bouquet of flowers by his replacement.

REUTERS

In the 21st minute, there was some planned protest chanting and banners were also unfurled in relation to the ongoing situation of political unrest in Hong Kong. The game continued without disruption.

AFP/Getty Images

Leroy Sane doubled City's lead with a low strike from the edge of the area after 40 minutes and Sterling made it 3-0 before half-time as he clipped a shot over the keeper.

Sane claimed City's fourth after 55 minutes when he finished from a tight angle after a De Bruyne shot had been parried.

REUTERS

City made a number of changes to give game time to some of their youngsters in the final half-an-hour.

There were more protest chants throughout the second half.

AFP/Getty Images

Sterling, who was also denied two penalties during the game, had another strike disallowed for offside.

One of City's youngsters, Nabil Touaizi, scored a fifth 11 minutes from time when his low shot went in off a post.

Kitchee claimed a consolation through Law Tsz Chun but Iker Pozo turned in a sixth for City amid a goalmouth scramble.

The game was interrupted in stoppage time after a fan ran onto the pitch but it was not clear if it was related to any protests and appeared an isolated disturbance.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in