Mahrez with two assists and a goal as Manchester City breeze past Barnsley

Dennis Mabuka

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Mahrez with two assists and a goal as Manchester City breeze past Barnsley image

Riyad Mahrez was the star of the game as Manchester City continued with their fine run in pre-season after registering a 4-0 win against Barnsley on Saturday.

Played behind closed doors at the Academy Stadium, the Algerian winger stole the show as he laid on two goals and then scored one, as Pep Guardiola’s charges secured a comfortable win.

The 30-year-old set up the first goal after breezing past two defenders and laid the ball to Samul Edozie, who tapped it home in the 23rd minute, and then he was at it again, this time providing the ammunition for Ben Knight to score the second in the 30th minute.

Mahrez then scored the third in the 34th minute after finishing off with his left foot, a move he started from the centre of the pitch, to give the Blues a 3-0 lead at the half-time break.

After the resumption, Guardiola, who named several first-team players in the starting line up including, Mahrez, Ruben Dias, Joao Cancelo, and Fernandinho, opted to make changes with the likes of Ilkay Gundogan and Oleksandr Zinchenko tasting action after their involvement at Euro 2020.

But City were forced to wait until the 68th minute to score the fourth when Dutch defender Nathan Ake also got on the scoresheet with a powerful shot from close range to seal the huge win.

Despite the convincing result, Guardiola believes there is still plenty of room for improvement for his charges.

“We are far away still, (but) it’s normal. We have a lot of things to improve, that is good,” he reflected following the victory,” Guardiola told the club’s official website after the game.

“Tomorrow [Sunday] we have training, Tuesday another game, and then after we prepare for the [Community Shield] final.

“Two or three players will come back for their first training session and then at the end of the week another. Step by step everyone is coming back.

“It’s just pre-season, we can’t take many conclusions about that but the important thing is there are no injuries.”

City will face Leicester City in the Community Shield on August 7 before starting their Premier League title defence with an away game against Tottenham Hotspur on August 15.

Dennis Mabuka