* The first touch to De Bruyne, one of his positive participations
The first presentation of Julian Alvarez with the t-shirt Manchester City: in the friendly that opened the team’s tour of the United States (2-1 win against America of Mexico with two goals from Kevin De Bruyne), Pep Guardiola decided that the 22-year-old Cordovan would start (Erling Haaland was not among the available men), although, of course, it was a preliminary test for the upcoming season.
Just 13 days after he left Argentina (after River’s 0-0 win against Vélez that left the Millionaire without the Copa Libertadores), the Spider took to the field with his new teammates, surrounded by great figures such as De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Grealish or Mahrez. And he didn’t mess up.
Just as it happened in the Banda, the attacker of the Argentine team was the first element of pressure, extremely applied, to the point that his pressing almost caused Grealish’s goal in the second half (he went hand in hand and covered the Aztec goalkeeper). In another action, he forced the bad rejection of Memo Ochoa: although the ball hit him in the body, he went to the side and not towards the goal. In addition, he constantly moved marking the pass, shooting diagonals or playing simple and direct.
* The recovery that almost ended in a Grealish goal
A couple of his touches were of distinction. The first, a first-class loan to Kevin De Bruyne, in depth. Another, also throwing himself back as pivot/10, and assisting Bernardo Silva, who shot across and deflected.
Logically, the lack of fine tuning with his teammates, who have to know his movements to take advantage of them, was noted. He was fouled three times (he was the second most hit player in the game) and when he had a chance to go head-on, stepping into the area, to find the gap to try the goal, he got tangled up.
* The good meeting with Bernardo Silva
Guardiola decided to change him after 70 minutes (he was replaced by the British Liam Delap) and congratulated him on his work: he waited for him at the edge of the field and patted him. Álvarez’s debut caught the attention of soccer fans in general and River in particular. There was a photo in the preview that was all the rage: that of the Spider getting off the bus that took the footballers to the stadium… With mate in hand.
In addition, throughout the match, Julián became the first trend on Twitter and caused Haaland to come second, due to the bid that will surely be on the squad for ownership. Or will there be room for both in Guardiola’s scheme?
It is worth remembering that City paid 21 million dollars for the Argentine’s file and that, although he received several offers requesting the loan, the coach asked to incorporate him to film him. Even the club negotiated two important players such as Gabriel Jesus and Raheem Sterling in order to diagram the new team that includes Haaland and Álvarez, who already broke the ice in the friendly in the United States.
* The summary of the match and Julián’s debut
* The time it was replaced
KEEP READING: