Stuttgart 4 Manchester City 2

Manchester City’s pre-season programme ended in defeat against Stuttgart despite a late rally at the Mercedes-Benz Arena.

The Swabians unpicked City’s defence four times in the first half – three times within one dizzying seven-minute spell – to the delight of most of the 40,122 crowd.

At that point City were facing the prospect of a heavy defeat, but to their credit Manuel Pellegrini’s men battled on. Substitutes Kelechi Iheanacho and Edin Dzeko grabbed well-taken consolations late in the game, with Raheem Sterling providing both assists

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HJK Helsinki 0 Liverpool 2

Philippe Coutinho returned to action with a goal to help Liverpool to a 2-0 victory over HJK Helsinki in Finland on Saturday in their latest pre-season encounter.

The 23-year-old made his first appearance of the summer for the Reds following an extended break and came closest to breaking the deadlock when his first-half drive was deflected onto the crossbar.

However, after substitute Divock Origi had opened the scoring with 18 minutes remaining thanks to a well-taken finish, Coutinho found the net with a deflected curler from the corner of the box to put the seal on a solid afternoon’s work for Liverpool.

Brendan Rodgers: “I was pleased we were better in the second half than the first. We tried to look at something in the first half.

“But our fluency was really good in the second half and obviously we scored a couple of really good goals. I’m pleased – another good workout for us in the last of our pre-season games abroad.

“In terms of everything that the players have been through – all the travel around the world – they are in good condition.

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