City defeat Adelaide ahead of Sterling arrival

Manchester City prepared for the imminent arrival of new signing Raheem Sterling with a 2-0 friendly victory over Adelaide United on Wednesday.

Sterling finally completed his moved to the Etihad Stadium from Liverpool in a deal that is reportedly set to reach £49million on Tuesday, bringing an end to the drawn out transfer saga.

The England forward is flying out to Australia to meet up with the rest of his team-mates for their pre-season tour.

City manager Manuel Pellegrini used a blend of first-team and academy players for their first friendly of the close-season, with teenager Brandon Barker and Bruno Zuculini on the scoresheet at the Cbus Stadium.

Willy Caballero had to be alert to deny Awer Mabil and Bruce Djite in the early stages, but it was City that created the better openings in the first half with Samir Nasri seeing Adelaide goalkeeper Eugene Galekovic tip his one-on-one effort onto the crossbar in the 11th minute. 

City made wholesale changes at the break, and the deadlock was broken in the 63rd minute when Barker cut-in from the left and fired his shot into the far corner.

Richard Wright made a smart stop to deny Adelaide’s Craig Goodwin, before City made sure of the win six minutes from time when Zuculini tapped in Gael Clichy’s cross.