Manchester City have just narrowly missed out on the 2023 Community Shield after losing 4-1 to last season’s title rivals, Arsenal.
Pep Guardiola‘s men had the chance to start this year’s campaign how they ended the last one: with a shiny piece of silverware that would have been their fourth in 2023. However, a very late equaliser from Leandro Trossard in the 11th minute of stoppage time ultimately saw the game go to pens.
The treble-winners went nearly 80 minutes without scoring in the tightly-contested charity shield match against the side, who also came runners-up in the Premier League — the Gunners selected as the default opponent given the fact that Man City also won the 2022/23 FA Cup.
However, the deadlock was finally broken in the 77th minute when youngster Cole Palmer buried an absolutely wonderful long-range finish to put the Blues ahead. Regardless of the result, what a moment this was for the burgeoning City star.
While many might have rightly expected the likes of Erling Haaland to create the match-winning moment, his performance was much like last year’s Community Shield match against Liverpool where he just couldn’t quite leave his mark. Instead, it was left up to the academy prospect to produce the goods.
Unfortunately for City, the Wythenshawe-born winger and attacking midfielder’s goal wasn’t enough to get them over the line as the deflected effort from Trossard trickled into the back of the net sent the game straight to a penalty shootout
Arsenal’s Fabio Viera was entrusted with the final penalty after both Kevin de Bruyne and the Champions League final match-winner Rodri failed to score theirs, seeing Pep’s former protege Mikel Arteta get on over on his mentor ahead of the new season kicking off on Friday, 11 August.
So, whether you would have been bold enough to count it or not, City will have to settle for remaining treble-winners for now. We’re sure they’ll get over it…
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At the end of the day, we all know how it works: the Community Shield is only another trophy in the cabinet if you win it and just a ‘glorified pre-season friendly’ if you don’t — we still have no doubt Manchester City are pretty everyone’s favourites to win the league again in May.
You can watch the highlights of this year’s FA charity shield down below:
Man City vs Arsenal 2023 Community Shield highlights
Featured Image — Emirates FA Cup/Arsenal/Man City (via Twitter)
Sport
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
6th August 2023 
