Raheem Sterling's Man City debut: How did he do?
Wednesday 22 July 2015 10:15, UK
After becoming the most expensive English footballer of all time, Raheem Sterling had an eventful Manchester City debut against Roma, even if it was for just 45 minutes.
All the hype around the famous Melbourne Cricket Ground for Tuesday's pre-season friendly was focused on how the £49m man would fare on his debut following his move from Liverpool, and immediately he was in the thick of the action, somewhat embarrassingly so.
The England forward has built his reputation on running at defenders with pace, with trickery and balance to worry the very best, but his first such move in the sky blue of City ended up with Sterling in a heap on the patchy MCG pitch, having trodden on the ball.
Undeterred, Sterling continued to carry the ball to the Italians, and was on the scoresheet in under three minutes.
Played in by Nigerian youngster Kelechi Iheanacho, Sterling raced clear, and didn't need the support to his right before slotting the ball past Morgan De Sanctis in the Roma goal to silence the jeers after his slip just moments before.
Sterling wasn't done there, and was looking very sharp so early in City's pre-season preparations.
After the Serie A side had leveled through Miralem Pjanic, Sterling, with David Silva orchestrating, continued to pose real problems for the Giallorossi.
And that pressure looked to have reaped rewards as Sterling was seemingly felled in the penalty area by Alessandro Florenzi, but nothing was given, much to City's bemusement.
Sterling looked to have worked space to trouble De Sanctis again before the half was out, but from the edge of the box, leaning back, he fired over.
And that was that for the £49m man as he was one of the many players replaced at half-time. An impressive 45 minutes bursting with pace, fleet-footed skills and dynamism that was often lacking in the City attack last season, and fans will be hoping Sergio Aguero may have a little more support in attack in 2015/16.
Boss Manuel Pellegrini was pleased with Sterling's contribution, and tipped the 20-year-old for the top.
"I’m really happy for him," Pellegrini said. "He literally just walked out and put it in the goal. He got a bit of abuse for his first touch but Raheem’s a quality player. He’s going to get a little bit of stick, but I think people will get bored of it when he starts firing goals in.
"He’s a great lad. He’s a young guy that we are really going to encourage to be at this club for years and make himself a legend."
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