Manchester City Have No Need to Panic After Defeat to Real Madrid

Manchester City’s pre-season tour of Australia ended in defeat on Friday as they lost 4-1 to a strong Real Madrid side at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in front of a near-capacity 99,382 crowd. 

Goals from Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Pepe put Real 3-0 ahead, before a Yaya Toure penalty saw City get themselves back into the match just before half-time. Denis Cheryshev added another for Real Madrid in the second half, completing a deserved win for the Spanish side. 

Vincent Kompany missed the match, having flown back to England to be with his wife Carla who is due to give birth, and with Sergio Aguero, Pablo Zabaleta, Fernandinho and Martin Demichelis all given extra time to recover from their Copa America exertions, Manuel Pellegrini was left with few options to choose from against the La Liga giants.

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Pellegrini exclusive... Boss on new signings, summer transfer window and the season ahead: http://t.co/ebva8BWzwg pic.twitter.com/2TBEDkeVAU

— Manchester City FC (@MCFC) July 24, 2015"

The rest of the City squad who took part in games in Australia have now travelled to Hanoi, where they will face the Vietnam national side before playing their final preparation match before the start of the new season against Stuttgart.

Theo Karanikos/Associated Press

It has been a hugely successful few weeks for City, whose young squad of players will have benefited hugely from the experience.

Cameron Humphreys, a 16-year-old centre-back, played the full 90 minutes against Real Madrid alongside 20-year-old Jason Denayer, a player expected to supplement Pellegrini’s first-team squad in the coming season.

Both struggled to contain Real's array of attacking stars in what was a difficult game for the rookie pair, but they will have both learned plenty from the experience. 

With Brandon Barker, Manu Garcia, Marcos Lopes, Bruno Zuculini and Kelechi Iheanacho also having featured heavily in City’s fixtures in Australia and, for the most part, impressing hugely, the future looks very bright indeed for the Blues in terms of youth development.

Iheanacho, in particular, has emerged as a real star of the future. The 18-year-old Nigerian has exceptional technical quality, quick feet, pace and belief in his ability. He will almost certainly play a role in Pellegrini’s plans, and if he fulfils his undoubted potential, he looks set to save the club a lot of money.

The expected departures of Edin Dzeko and Stevan Jovetic look set to open the door for Iheanacho to make an impression on the first team sooner rather than later. 

The form of Raheem Sterling, too, has been a significant boost to City’s technical staff, who look to have on their hands the brightest young talent in English football.

Sterling, 20, cost City a club-record £49 million from Liverpool, but given his age, homegrown status and talent, it could well prove to be a bargain.

His pace is his major asset, and time and again in his appearances against Roma and Real Madrid in Melbourne, he demonstrated how dangerous it can be, moving through the gears effortlessly and causing defenders all sorts of problems.

He looks ideally suited to the 4-3-3 formation Pellegrini has been trialling in Australia. If City were to adopt that system more regularly, a front three of Sterling, Aguero and David Silva looks a tantalising prospect.

The one major downside of the tour was the injury sustained by new signing Fabian Delph, who left the field during the match with Real Madrid clutching his hamstring.

City’s new £8 million man, signed from Aston Villa in what turned out to be a protracted deal that involved a couple of U-turns from the player, could miss the beginning of the new season, and Pellegrini will be hoping it isn’t a setback that disrupts his start to life as a City player too much.

The leap from Villa to City is a big one, and there are many who have questioned Delph's ability to make an impact at a club challenging for major honours. He needs a quick recovery and a good start to life as a City player.

Results in pre-season matches are unimportant. City have used their time in Australia to expose their brightest young stars to the rigours of top-level football, seen their big-name new signing adapt effortlessly to their new system and utilised various formations in preparation for the new season. 

The club have also raised their profile in what is a potentially huge commercial market. From the board of directors through to the club's young Elite Development Squad stars taken along for the experience, the last few weeks can be considered a huge success. 

Rob Pollard is Bleacher Report's lead Manchester City correspondent and follows the club from a Manchester base. All quotes were obtained firsthand unless otherwise noted. Follow him on Twitter: @RobPollard.