Manchester City are back in match action for the first time in more than a month as they take on Spanish side Girona in a friendly at the Academy Stadium.
The La Liga side, part of the City Football Group, are providing the opposition as Pep Guardiola puts most of his squad back through their paces for the first time since the domestic programme was halted for the World Cup.
Out of all of City 's World Cup contingent, only Julian Alvarez remains in Qatar with him expected to start against France in the final on Sunday. But there are likely to be others who reached the later stages of the tournament who won't feature today, having been given some extra time off before returning to the City camp.
Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez, Sergio Gomez and Stefan Ortega were among seven first-teamers who travelled to Abu Dhabi for the Blues' warm-weather training camp and they look set to feature today, along with a number of EDS players who also travelled to the Middle East.
Kick-off is at 1pm, and we'll bring you all the build-up, match updates, analysis and reaction below.
CFG friends
The two teams - both members of the City Football Group - posed for a big group photo before kick-off. Aw, friends.
Almost time for kick-off
The players are out and kick-off is just a couple of minutes away!
Players arrival
The City players arrived at the Academy Stadium about 30 minutes ago.
Cole Palmer speaking ahead of kick-off
Cole Palmer spoke to CityTV ahead of today's game:
"We're [trying to] get rhythm back, get used to playing again, 90 minutes, a proper match against good opposition."
Pep Guardiola confirms City Christmas plans
Pep Guardiola has confirmed that with City not playing on Boxing Day this year - their first league game back is at Leeds on December 28 - his players and staff will have Christmas Eve and Christmas Day off.
Pep Guardiola talks young stars
Pep Guardiola just spoke to CityTV about the importance of getting the youngsters involved today:
"It's so good to see how they behave, because maybe we'll need them during the season. It will be good for us."
Familiar faces
City fans might recognise a few names playing for Girona today.
Yan Couto - a 20-year-old right-back on loan at Girona - starts against his parent club, and there's a return to City for Aleix Garcia who left the club in 2020.
Valentin Castellanos starts up front for the visitors - he's on loan from fellow City Football Group side New York City FC.
Paulo Gazzaniga (gk) and Oriol Romeu have both come up against City in the past for the likes of Southampton and Spurs.
De Bruyne and Gundogan return
Kevin de Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan both make welcome returns to the City team today, as both suffered early World Cup elimination a few weeks ago.
It seems that any damage suffered is just emotional though, as both returned to training this week and have no issues. Both will surely start against Liverpool in the Carabao Cup next week.
Palmer in midfield
It looks like Cole Palmer will be in midfield today, with Riyad Mahrez on the right wing and Morgan Rogers on the left.
Like Phil Foden, Palmer came up through the academy playing in midfield but has largely played on the wing for the first team. Today he has an opportunity to show he has what it takes to regularly play as an eight for Pep Guardiola's side.
TEAM NEWS
The City team is in:
CITY XI: Ortega Moreno, Lewis, Katongo, Charles, Gomez, Gundogan (c), De Bruyne, Palmer, Mahrez, Rogers, Haaland. Subs: van Sas, Smith, Bobb, McDonald, Dickson, Alleyne, Galvez, O'Reilly, Borges, Robertson, Samuel.
Wrap up warm!
Bring those big coats today, City fans! #ManCity pic.twitter.com/vKAkKWSlEn
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 17, 2022
Hard work starts now
It's a good job that City arranged a friendly before returning to competitive action, because Pep Guardiola's side have some tough fixtures ahead of them.
A Carabao Cup date with Liverpool is first up next week, before City return to Premier League action away at Leeds on December 28 and and then welcome Everton to the Etihad on December 31.
January brings a league and cup double-header against Chelsea, a trip to Old Trafford for the second Manchester derby of the season and a meeting with Spurs.
Today's match, while just a friendly, will give a good indicator of the condition of City's stars who didn't take part in the World Cup.
Predicted line-up
It's not an easy XI to predict, this one!
With so many of City's first team regulars involved at the World Cup, today's starting XI will be a mix of senior players who didn't go to Qatar - such as Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez and Sergio Gomez - and EDS youngsters keen to make a good impression.
Here's how we