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City to unveil Sterling in Melbourne

20th July, 2015
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Melbourne will host the debut of mega-money signing Raheem Sterling in a Manchester City shirt on Tuesday night.

Manchester City coach Manuel Pellegrini confirmed he would play Sterling, City’s A$107 million off-season acquisition, against Roma at the MCG.

Sterling joined his new City teammates after his controversial move from Liverpool on the Gold Coast last week, too late to make his debut against Melbourne City on Saturday.

Pellegrini said he would be among several late arrivals to City’s touring squad who would be blended into the first-team.

“He is in the same way as the other international players and (Sterling) will play some minutes,” he said.

“I know him because I played (coached) against him the last two seasons but I think it is important for him to have minutes with our team.”

Sterling’s debut helps International Champions Cup (ICC) organisers sell last minute tickets to the match, the least attractive of three MCG fixtures.

The ICC’s Melbourne run kicked off with an underwhelming 0-0 draw between Roma and Real Madrid on Saturday night.

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The Serie A side took a 7-6 victory on penalties, while on the same night Manchester City began their Australian tour with a 1-0 win over their sister club.

Pellegrini said the Queensland training camp “worked very well” for his side and he hoped his time in Melbourne would be equally fruitful.

But he remains cautious over the MCG surface, which was criticised in the build-up to the opening encounter.

Less than 24 hours after a bumper crowd of 80,000 witnessed the match, the ground reverted to type on Sunday, hosting AFL sides Melbourne and Brisbane.

The scrappy AFL match can only have worsened the pitch, which is why Pellegrini said he moved his planned MCG training session to AAMI Park.

“Yes I am concerned … we know it is not in the best shape,” he said.

“I hope that the pitch will be at least in normal conditions.”

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The packed off-season schedule for City includes matches in Vietnam and Germany before they return to Manchester but goalkeeper Joe Hart allayed fears there was too much travel involved in their Premier League preparation.

“The manager’s had a few pre-seasons in his life so he knows how to prepare a team,” he said.

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