Manchester City and Atletico Madrid are going to continue their preseason preparations for their respective 2026/27 season and both teams have had a fair share of brilliant results coming into this fixture.
Atletico Madrid comes off a defeat to City’s local rivals, Manchester United, after Bryan Mbeumo’s double saw United come from behind to beat Atletico 2-1 in the Snapdragon Cup last weekend.
City, on the otherhand, recorded a 3-1 victory over K League Stars which was Enzo Maresca’s first win as City’s boss after taking over from Pep Guardiola. Maresca’s first match was against Inter Milan where City was held to a 1-1 draw after 90 minutes but lost 3-1 on penalties.
For Atletico Madrid, their preseason campaign began with a 4-1 victory over league rivals Getafe before they faced Manchester United. After City, they have one more match and that is with French Ligue 1 side, Marseille before their opening league fixture on August 19 against newly promoted Malaga.
Team News
Manchester City is undergoing a transition as Pep Guardiola ended his stay at the club after a decade – that is a long time to have set his philosophy and style in stone and even though his successor is much like him, there will be some shaking expected.
For now, Erling Haaland is not back with the team as their star striker is not done with his holiday after representing Norway in the 2026 World Cup.
Other players who are not with the group yet include Rayan Cherki, Marc Guehi, Elliot Anderson and Nico O’Reilly. Rodri has undergone a back surgery and while it is a minor one he looks set to join Barcelona after giving the green light for negotiations to proceed with the Catalans.
Winter signing Antoine Semenyo, Phil Foden, Savinho, Omar Marmoush, and Ruben Dias all look set to be part of the Citizens XI.
As for Atletico, they are without Alvarez who played for Argentina in the final of the World Cup and so will still be absent for this fixture. His Argentine fellows are also absent, Nahuel Molina and Giuliano Simeone. Spanish Midfielder, Alex Baena was with Spain, the eventual winners of the World Cup and he is also absent.
Norwegian striker Alexander Sorloth is also missing from the Atletico squad set to face City.
After completing a $40.4 million move from PSG, Kang-in has been named in the squad and could make his debut for The Red and Whites. We also expect fellow new arrival Hjulmand to start along with the likes of Super Eagles winger Ademola Lookman, Koke, and Le Normand.
Manchester City vs Atletico Madrid Preseason Form:
Manchester City pre-season form:
Atletico Madrid pre-season form:
Both teams have been impressive in their last two games of the preseason and they seem evenly matched going into this fixture.
Our Manchester City vs Atletico Madrid Prediction
The main pick for this match is both teams to score. This is because in their last two matches of the preseason, Manchester City and Atletico have scored and conceded goals – that makes them open for goals.
For the correct score option, we are going with 1-1. However, with the attacking options at the disposal of Enzo Maresca, we believe that there could be more goals for City.
Another prediction option would be City over 1.5.