Overview
Enzo Maresca will make his debut as Manchester City head coach with a friendly match against Inter Milan, marking the beginning of the post-Pep Guardiola period after a glorious decade of the Etihad home team.
After the 2025-2026 season winning a domestic cup double but losing the Premier League title, Man City enters the Asian tour with 3 friendly matches against Inter Milan, K-League All Stars and Atletico Madrid. This is also an opportunity for Maresca to test the squad and give opportunities to many young players.
Because many key players such as Marc Guehi and Erling Haaland are still resting after the 2026 World Cup, Man City will play with a squad lacking many stars. Most players will only return right before the English Super Cup match with Arsenal on August 16.
Therefore, the clash with Inter Milan will be the first test for many young faces as well as reserve players who want to score points with Maresca.
In the opposite direction, Inter entered the new season with an excited mentality after regaining the Serie A championship in 2025-2026. Despite stopping early in the European arena, Nerazzurri still completed a domestic double.
Coach Cristian Chivu's team dominates Serie A with an 11-point gap from Napoli and impresses with an explosive attack. Right in his first season leading Inter, Chivu helped the team quickly regain its position as a top candidate for all titles.
In the pre-season preparation phase, Inter started with a 16-0 victory over SV Aasen in a training trip in Germany. After that, the Serie A representative continued to defeat Karlsruher 2-1 thanks to a double in injury time by Andy Diouf.
After the match against Man City, Inter will continue their tour with 2 notable friendly matches against AC Milan and Juventus in Australia, before entering the opening match of Serie A 2026-2027 against Monza on August 22.
Personnel situation
Maresca brought 28 players on Man City's Asian tour, but no stars participated from the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup onwards.
Therefore, Erling Haaland, Marc Guehi, Nico O'Reilly, Jeremy Doku, Rayan Cherki, record signing Elliot Anderson and 2026 World Cup Golden Ball winner Rodri have not yet joined the team. Besides, Jack Grealish is also absent due to recovering from a foot injury sustained during his loan spell at Everton.
On the other side, Inter Milan also lacks many key players because they are off after the World Cup, including captain Lautaro Martinez. Therefore, Cristian Chivu has given the opportunity to start young players such as Mattia Marello, Leonardo Bovio and Jamal Iddrissou in the friendly match against Karlsruher.
During the summer transfer window, Inter recruited midfielder Aleksandar Stankovic from Club Brugge and goalkeeper Ivan Provedel from Lazio. Provedel is expected to compete for the starting position with Josep Martinez after Yann Sommer's departure.
Expected lineup:
Man City: Donnarumma, Lewis, Reis, Khusanov, Ait-Nouri, Gonzalez, Savinho, Reijnders, Foden, Monga, Mubamba.
Inter Milan: Martinez, Bisseck, Bovio, Augusto, Diouf, Barella, Zielinski, Stankovic, Dimarco, Iddrissou, Esposito.
The match between Man City and Inter Milan takes place at 6:30 p.m. on August 1 (Vietnam time).
