City edges Dortmund in Shenzhen

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Sergio Aguero made his first appearance of pre-season against Borussia Dortmund on Thursday.

Pep Guardiola got his first taste as Manchester City's manager last night after beating Borussia Dortmund on penalties in a friendly, but expressed concern about the looming English Premier League season.

"Football today is tough," said Guardiola, whose side beat its German opposition in Shenzen, south China's Guangdong Province. "Today you don't have time to rest. I don't know if we are going to kill our players but the schedule is the schedule. We start in two weeks. But I saw what I wanted to see — we are aggressive and we want the ball."

City won — and finally got the workout Guardiola had craved — thanks to a 6-5 penalty shoot-out win over Dortmund, after the game ended one apiece.

Guardiola admitted City was still a work in progress with just two preseason games completed so far. "I don't want to complain but I would like to have more time," the Spaniard said. "But we have to adapt. Today we played one of the best teams in Europe — they are so strong. There are many things to improve."

A tap-in from Sergio Aguero for City on 79 minutes was cancelled out after Christian Pulisic fired one home for Dortmund, through a crowded box, with six minutes of added time gone.

City keeper Angus Gunn was the hero of penalties with three saves, including the one sealing its victory when he palmed away Mikel Merino's attempt.

It was a lively enough affair in front of a crowd of around 32,000 at the Shenzhen Universiade Stadium and saw both managers draw deep on their substitutes benches as time wore on.

Robbed of the chance for a derby against rival Manchester United by rain and a ropey pitch on Monday, Guardiola had been desperate to get some game time into his squad before their tour of China was over. Yesterday the weather gods were kinder, with temperatures dropping slightly.

He gave Oleksandr Zinchenko, Tosin Adarabioyo and Kelechi Iheanacho starts, while Guardiola's opposite number Thomas Tuchel continued to blood his new recruits also as he had in their 4-1 win over United in the International Champions Cup China's opening match in Shanghai last Friday.

Teenagers Ousmane Dembele (19) and Emre Mor (18) both started, alongside Marc Bartra, Dortmund's offseason capture from Barcelona. In all there were six new faces from the starting XI against United as Tuchel looked to put miles into legs.

But the goals came late and Tuchel could be excused if he thought life was unfair, given the chances his side had been presented with, and the opportunity — missed — to complete a double over both shades of Manchester.

In Pasadena, California, Chelsea's Cesc Fabregas was sent off for a reckless lunge at Liverpool new boy Ragnar Klavan, overshadowing a 1-0 friendly win on Wednesday.

The Premier League giants locked horns in the ICC United States in a match which was more remarkable for its clumsy fouls than free-flowing football.

Spanish midfielder Fabregas, 29, could have no complaints as he got his marching orders in the 70th minute for sliding late into Klavan with his studs up.

By then Californian referee Baldomero Toledo had already been forced to show yellow cards to four Liverpool players — with another to come — and one to Chelsea defender Gary Cahill, who scored the only goal the 10th minute.

Chelsea's new head coach Antonio Conte said after the final whistle that the match was more competitive than he had been expecting and apologized for Fabregas's foul.

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