I saw many good things in Celtic defeat, says Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says he took plenty of positives from City's pre-season opener in the USA, despite a 4-3 defeat to Celtic.

A young City side took on a much more experienced XI representing the Scottish champions, who start their league season in just over a week.

In spite of that, we gave the Bhoys a run for their money at the Kenan Memorial Stadium in North Carolina with goals from Oscar Bobb, Maximo Perrone and Erling Haaland.

More on our USA Tour 2024

14 Academy graduates were used by Guardiola across the night, with Rico Lewis and Oscar Bobb the only two City men to play the whole 90 minutes.

Given the inexperienced squad available to him and the early stage of our preparations for the 2024/25 season, Guardiola was pleased with the way his players performed.

"I saw many good things from the new and old players," the manager stated in his post-match press conference.

"It wasn’t easy, we have senior players up front and back four eight or nine who are so young. It’s difficult in one department when so many are young but many good things, Oscar and Rico always in a high level.

WATCH: Watch City's US tour matches on CITY+

"Many things I saw were nice. We created chances, but they are so good with the pace and quality they have. You have to live these situations in pre-season and we’ll do it from here."

Asked directly about Lewis' performance, Guardiola reiterated his faith in the Bury-born teenager and listed the No.82's outstanding attributes.

"Rico is exceptional and can play in the pocket, maybe it’s his natural position but we didn't have players in back four.

"He’s so dynamic, first control, vision, it’s really good and I was very pleased with his performance."

USA TOUR 2024

City are still to face AC Milan, Barcelona and Chelsea during the Club’s pre-season tour of the United States.

As always, mancity.com and the official app are the best places to keep across all things City during our time in the US.

Including pre-match press conferences and live open training as well as detailed and varied in-game and post-friendly coverage of all our fixtures, our website and app provide fans with a complete City experience, all from one handy place.

DOWNLOAD THE MAN CITY APP

All US Tour matches will be broadcast live on CITY+ in the following countries: United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Iceland, India, Indonesia, Japan, Norway, Sweden and United Arab Emirates.

To access these matches from one of the locations listed above, you will need an active CITY+ subscription. Those same restrictions will apply to full-match replays and Pitcam highlights.

SUBSCRIBE TO CITY+

For fans living outside of the countries named, we will have a full explainer article on how to tune in coming in due course.

Subscribers will be able to watch on the official app and mancity.com, with the option to cast matches onto their TV from mobile devices. Find out how to do this via our handy guide here.

For more information on CITY+, including subscription prices, click here.