Manchester City have been announced as one of two clubs to play against Real Madrid at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the International Champions Cup in July.
The defending Premier League champions, who acquired A-League side Melbourne Heart and rebranded them as Melbourne City in January, will play in the three-team preseason tournament between July 18-24. One other team has yet to be confirmed.
We're thrilled to announce that @MCFC will be competing at the @MCG during #ICCAustralia presented by @Audi! #ICC2015 pic.twitter.com/TTHm8oFcQH
- Int Champions Cup (@IntChampionsCup) December 5, 2014
Man City chief executive Ferran Soriano told the BBC: "We are looking forward, once again, to being a part of the tournament. We are particularly excited to be visiting Melbourne, which is home to our sister club."
City manager Manuel Pellegrini added in a news conference on Friday: "I think it is important for this club to go to Australia. We have a team also in Australia. It is a country where they like football and to play a game against Real Madrid is very important."
When asked if he anticipated any issues with his players travelling so far, he said: "No, because we are going to make our training camp in Australia also. We are not going to fly 12 hours just to play one game. We are going to stay there a lot of days so we don't have any problem."
The International Champions Cup was held in the United States in 2013, with Manchester United beating Liverpool 3-1 on penalties in the final at New York's Yankee Stadium, while a crowd of 95,000 saw Liverpool beat Melbourne Victory 2-0 in a friendly at the MCG last year.