Manchester City striker Erling Haaland will go face to face with Liverpool ahead Darwin Nunez because the Premier League title rivals unveil their costly new recruits in the Community Shield.
Heading into Saturday’s curtain raiser to the Premier League season, the stress is on Haaland and Nunez to supply proof they’ll justify their hefty value tags over the approaching months.
The pair characterize over £100 million ($121 million) of goalscoring firepower because the rivalry between City and Liverpool intensifies.
Much has modified at City and Liverpool since Pep Guardiola’s facet pipped the Reds to the title by one level after an exhilarating come-from-behind victory over Aston Villa on the final day of the season.
City’s fourth title in 5 seasons was simply reward for his or her unbelievable consistency, however Guardiola’s perfectionist character ensured he wouldn’t relaxation on his laurels.
Guardiola sanctioned the gross sales of Gabriel Jesus and Oleksandr Zinchenko to Arsenal, whereas Raheem Sterling joined Chelsea and Fernandinho returned to Athletico Paranaense.
Aware that City’s success final season was achieved regardless of their lack of a pure central striker, Guardiola made a blockbuster transfer for certainly one of Europe’s brightest younger stars as he landed Norway worldwide Haaland from Borussia Dortmund for £51 million.
Having didn’t prise Harry Kane from Tottenham’s clutches 12 months in the past, Guardiola hopes Haaland can emulate his prolific kind at Dortmund in the extra demanding Premier League.
The 22-year-old’s capability to mesh with City’s array of artistic skills is among the key storylines that can outline the title race.
The early indicators are promising as Haaland took simply 12 minutes to attain on his City debut in a pleasant towards Bayern Munich.
“As you probably all know, I’ve been watching a lot of City games for the last years,” Haaland stated.
“The last years (they) have been without a striker, so of course I’ve been seeing myself in these kind of situations. I’m not surprised. The quality is good.”
Signing England midfielder Kalvin Phillips from Leeds for £42 million additional underlined City’s dynastic ambitions.
– ‘Nunez needs more support’ –
While City will begin the season as title favourites regardless of the consequence this weekend at Leicester’s King Power Stadium, Liverpool’s menace to their supremacy stays clear and current.
Jurgen Klopp’s staff got here inside two video games of soccer immortality after spending the second half of the season engaged in an exhilarating chase to win an unprecedented quadruple.
With historical past in touching distance, Liverpool fell painfully brief as City gained the title earlier than Real Madrid beat them 1-0 in the Champions League ultimate.
Beating Chelsea on penalties in the FA and League Cup finals was scant comfort for a supervisor with Klopp’s ferocious drive.
The months since that agonising finale have seen Liverpool lastly finish hypothesis over Mohamed Salah’s future by tying the Egypt star to a brand new contract.
The departure of Sadio Mane to Bayern Munich was a blow, however Klopp stuffed the void left by the Senegal ahead when he paid an preliminary £64 million, that would rise to a membership report £85 million, to signal Nunez from Benfica.
Nunez, 23, has endured a rollercoaster pre-season, with an embarrassing miss towards Manchester United adopted by a four-goal demolition of Leipzig, then a clean in a defeat towards Salzburg.
Premature comparisons will inevitably be made between Haaland and Nunez this weekend.
But Klopp was fast to defend the Uruguay striker, saying: “He needs much more support around him. You keep other players busy so they cannot focus on him. It is like it is, it doesn’t feel great, but we take it and go from here.”
Victory in the Shield can be a footnote when the foremost prizes are handed out on the finish of the season, however Klopp is aware of the psychological significance of any win over England’s preeminent power.
“The situation is that it’s a very important game, but the situation is that we still have to prepare a season, so we cannot ignore that,” Klopp stated.
“Will it show a lot about the season? I expect two good teams.”
