Jose Mourinho and Pep Guardiola: Beijing pitch could lead to injuries ahead of new season

JOSE MOURINHO and Pep Guardiola have raised fears over injuries to stars worth around £500m on a potentially treacherous pitch in the first overseas Manchester derby on Monday.

Manchester City's Guardiola: Mourinho's presence can help me

The game has been overshadowed by the state of the surface at the Bird’s Nest Stadium – which hosted the 2008 Olympic Games – following torrential storms last week.

After the teams were forced to re-schedule their training sessions yesterday to the nearby Olympic Sports Centre Stadium, United manager Mourinho and City boss Guardiola revealed they are worried that the pitch could cut up badly and cause damage to key men with the Premier League season starting in three weeks.

New signings like Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Eric Bailly and Nolito are all set to figure as well as players like Sergio Aguero, David Silva, Yaya Toure, Juan Mata and rising star Marcus Rashford.

“If you ask me my objective for the match tomorrow I only have one: Take the players home safe without any kind of injury,” said Mourinho. “Bad conditions for my players to train and bad conditions for my players to play are a problem for me.

City new boy Nolito has revealed he turned down the chance to re-join Barcelona because he wanted to play for Pep Guardiola.

The Spain striker started his career with the Barca B team before making his name with Benfica and Celta Vigo but decided against a return to the Nou Camp because he feared the presence of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Luis Suarez would severely restrict his game time.

Nolito, who is set to make his City debut against United tonight, said: “I am very proud of Barcelona’s interest and I wish them all the best. But I think I have made the best decision for me and my career. It’s something I spoke about with my family and my management team.

“Pep was the main reason I came. The truth is I enjoyed working with him in Barcelona even though it wasn’t much time. It’s a reason for me to come here but not the only one.”

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