Man City vs Barcelona: Explosive Preview, Predictions, and Lineups

Manchester City’s U.S. tour continues in Orlando on Tuesday night as they clash with Barcelona at Camping World Stadium.

The City stars have been soaking up the Florida sun, with Jack Grealish especially enjoying his time at Universal Studios, chatting with Shrek and friends.

Pep Guardiola’s squad has delivered two thrilling performances despite narrow defeats—a 4-3 loss to Celtic and a 3-2 defeat to Milan.

While results are secondary, Guardiola has seen plenty of positives from City’s initial 180 minutes of play in the United States.

Now, Guardiola gears up to face his former club. Barcelona, fresh off the plane, begins their tour against the Premier League champions.

Hansi Flick’s side, however, is missing several key players, giving City the upper hand in this eagerly anticipated showdown.

Pep Guardiola too is still without a long list of senior players in the States, but Croatian Josko Gvardiol and Mateo Kovacic could make their first starts of the pre-season tour in Orlando.

There’s also talks of Kalvin Phillip potential use at centre-back in this one, with Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb and Erling Haaland also set to continue in the starting XI.

Here is Man City predicted lineup and formation vs Barcelona (4-3-3): Ortega; Lewis, Phillips, Gvardiol, Wilson-Esbrand; O’Reilly, Kovacic, Perrone; Bobb, Haaland, Grealish.

Hansi Flick has named a 31-man squad for Barcelona’s U.S. tour, but he’s missing ten senior stars.

Key players like Frenkie de Jong, Ronald Araujo, Gavi, and Pedri are sidelined with injuries. However, Alejandro Balde has recovered from his long-term setback and is ready to play.

Ilkay Gundogan and Raphinha will join the squad ahead of Tuesday night’s game, but neither is expected to start.

Lamine Yamal who’s expected to sign for Baca has been given extra time to recover from his Euro 2024 efforts.

Barcelona’s predicted lineup against Man City :

(4-3-3) includes Ter Stegen; J. Araujo, Christensen, Martinez, Fort; Romeu, Casado, Pablo Torre; Victor, Lewandowski, and Roque.

With many senior players absent, this summer offers a great chance to see La Masia talents like Marc Casado, Pablo Torre, and Mika Faye in action.

City, also fielding a youthful squad, is further along in their pre-season preparations, giving them an edge.

City’s academy stars have shown strong performances in their first two tour games, and the addition of a few senior players should tip Tuesday night’s clash in their favor.

Expectations for Barca in Orlando should be not be expected because this would be their first preseason game and most of their first team top Players are not expected to be in the squad facing Manchester City.