In just over a week’s time, Man City will begin the defence of their Premier League title, but before then they have the chance to win the Community Shield.
Even though the shield from the traditional curtain raiser isn’t normally felt to be something worth winning, on this occasion a City victory would mean that the club would still be on course for the sextuple – which they could complete with wins in the UEFA Super Cup and Club World Cup.
If they manage it, Pep Guardiola will have the unique honour of having done it with City and also Barcelona, surely cementing his place as the greatest coach of the modern era.
The Cityzens will step out at Wembley on Sunday resplendent in their new kits, and ahead of the game the official Man City website has released the new squad numbers.
New signing, Mateo Kovacic, has the No.8 shirt and many stars have kept the numbers from last season including Erling Haaland (No.9).
Defender, Joshua Wilson-Esbrand, has taken the highest numbered shirt (No.97), whilst the real anomaly occurs with City’s goalkeeping fraternity.
Traditional numbering would suggest that a club’s first-choice keeper would have the No.1 shirt, however, not only does Ederson (No. 31) not want the honour, but Scott Carson (No.33) and Stefan Ortega Moreno (No.18) don’t want to wear the numero uno either.