Manchester City continued their pre-season campaign with a comfortable 3-1 win over the K-League All Stars in sweltering conditions in Seoul.
Enzo Maresca’s side shrugged off a brief scare after conceding an equaliser, with goals from Rayan Ait-Nouri, Tijjani Reijnders and Divin Mubama securing the win before half-time.
The Premier League champions made a bright start despite temperatures of 33 degrees and high humidity, pressing aggressively from the opening whistle.
Their early pressure paid off after just nine minutes. Reijnders burst down the right and delivered a dangerous cross that eventually broke kindly for Ait-Nouri, who kept his composure to guide the loose ball into the net.
The hosts responded almost immediately. Kim Dae-Won collected possession on the edge of the penalty area after City’s defence failed to clear and rifled an unstoppable strike beyond Gianluigi Donnarumma to level the scores.
The equaliser briefly lifted the K-League All Stars, but City quickly reasserted their dominance.
They regained the lead in the 19th minute after Phil Foden’s cross narrowly evaded Mubama, allowing the attack to continue before Reijnders fired home from inside the box to cap another slick move.
City added a third just three minutes later. Antoine Semenyo forced a save from Song Bum-Keun, but the rebound fell straight to Mubama, who tapped into an empty net from close range.
The visitors continued to create chances and should have extended their lead before the break, with Semenyo squaring for Mubama only for the striker to miss the ball from inside the six-yard box.
Heavy rotation calms contest
Maresca rotated heavily at half-time, introducing Marcus Bettinelli, Savinho and Nico Gonzalez before making further changes throughout the second half, giving opportunities to youngsters including Claudio Echeverri, Jeremy Monga and Jaden Heskey.
City remained on top after the restart, with Foden forcing an early save before Reijnders tested substitute goalkeeper Gu Seong-Yun from distance.
The K-League All Stars threatened sporadically on the counter, coming closest when Kim Ju-Chan struck the post after City had gone close through Reijnders at the opposite end.
Monga almost marked his appearance with a goal after winning possession high up the pitch, but his effort was ruled out for handball.
Savinho also went close in stoppage time, forcing another smart save from Gu Seong-Yun as City comfortably saw out the victory ahead of Sunday’s meeting with Atletico Madrid.
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