Liverpool vs Manchester City: Preview, Dream11 and much more
Liverpool and Manchester City will lock horns in the Community Shield on Sunday. After taking the EPL battle to the last day last term, the heavyweights will want to win a trophy ahead of a crunch season. The Community Shield is played between the winners of EPL and FA Cup of last season. However, since City won both, EPL's runners-up Liverpool got a chance.
Last season was a historic one for City. Under manager Pep Guardiola, the club won the Shield, FA Cup, League Cup and the Premier League. It was a clean sweep under Pep as far as the domestic football was concerned. On the other hand, under Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool won the UEFA Champions League last season and finished second in the Premier League as well.
Interestingly, both teams will be allowed to make six substitutions during the match. So one expects both managers to make the most out of this situation. For the Reds, star player Sadio Mane will not be involved. As for Manchester City, Fernandinho and Benjamin Mendy are notable absentees. Several City stars reported for pre-season earlier this week and will be restricted to the bench.
"The physical condition [of the squad] is not the best. We will try to play with players who played minutes in pre-season because they have rhythm and they know the situation," said City boss Guardiola. "The good thing is we can have six substitutions, that's really good. We will make a squad for the game, not for the season," opined Liverpool manager Klopp.
One can expect a crunch game of football with a trophy on offer. Both managers know each other well and what to expect from the teams. Liverpool can win a total of seven trophies this season and they won't let the Shield pass by. Pep will want to emulate last season's domestic success and the Shield will be the perfect way to start things.
Alisson Becker gets the nod as the goal-keeper of this Dream11 team. Liverpool's Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson are the full-backs. Aymeric Laporte and Virgil van Dijk (vice-captain) form the central defensive partnership. Kevin De Bruyne, Jordan Henderson and İlkay Gundogan are mid-field options. Raheem Sterling (captain) and Bernardo Silva provide the width in attack. Mohamed Salah features as the striker.
The final is set to be played at the Wembley. It is scheduled for a 7:30 PM IST start. One can watch the match live on the Sony Ten Network.
