Manchester City to travel to Barcelona for charity friendly

Manchester City will play a friendly against Barcelona this summer at Camp Nou in what will be a charity game to raise funds for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) awareness.

The game between Pep Guardiola’s City and the club he played for and managed is in honour of Juan Carlos Unzué, a former Barcelona player and assistant manager, as per The Athletic.

Originally arranged for last summer, covid-19 restrictions in Spain at the time would not have allowed fans into the stadium and the clubs agreed to postpone it until this summer.

City are set to travel to Barcelona towards the end of August, after their trip to Newcastle. They are scheduled to play Crystal Palace on the following weekend.

Working under Guardiola and Luis Enrique

Unzué, a former goalkeeper, was diagnosed with ALS in February 2020. He worked as Barcelona’s goalkeeping coach from 2003 to 2010, which included a two-year spell alongside Pep Guardiola.

In the 1990s, he played with Spanish clubs Barcelona, Osasuna, Sevilla and Tenerife.

As well as working with Guardiola, Unzué had spells in management with Spain manager Luis Enrique at Celta Vigo and Barcelona. Unzué also managed Numancia, Celta and Girona.

Barcelona have also scheduled a friendly against Jose Mourinho’s AS Roma in the Joan Gamper Trophy this summer.

The game with Manchester City is due to take place on 24 August.