Manchester City 5-3 Yokohama F Marinos in friendly match in Tokyo

Manchester City roared back from two goals down to beat J-League champions Yokohama F-Marinos 5-3 on Sunday in their first match of a pre-season tour of Japan.

John Stones, Julian Alvarez and Rodri were also on target for Pep Guardiola's side in their first outing since completing a historic treble by winning the Champions League final last month.

Only four of the players who started that game were in the initial City XI against Marinos in Tokyo, and after 27 minutes they found themselves a goal down.

Anderson Lopes latched onto the rebound after Stefan Ortega saved his initial shot, converting crisply into the bottom corner.

In the teams’ first meeting since July 2019, City manager Pep Guardiola — who four years ago defeated Ange Postecoglou’s F. Marinos side 3-1 — watched as his starting lineup failed to break down a resilient Yokohama, with goalkeeper Jun Ichimori holding firm between the posts and the field players taking on their Premier League opponents with an aggressive press.

Yokohama played really well in the transitions. … It’s not easy for them to play against us for many many reasons. But the quality and the level of the football is there."

The treble-winners went 2-0 down to the J1 League champions, with Anderson Lopes and Ken Matsubara putting the home side ahead. F. Marinos are currently second in their table and just over halfway through their league season.

But John Stones converted from just inside the box after Julian Alvarez shuttled on a cutback from skipper-on-the-day Walker and Alvarez then added a quickfire second, capitalising on a poor pass out from F. Marinos.

Substitute striker Kenta Inoue found himself on the scoresheet in the final few minutes, capitalising on a moment of indecision in the City backline.

However, the Blues responded with an Erling Haaland tap-in from a Joao Cancelo cross to seal the win against a side in peak condition and again challenging at the top of the table in the J1 League

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Sarah H 

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