Manchester City earn resounding victory over Real Madrid

Manchester City have cruised to an exhilarating 4-1 victory over Real Madrid in Thursday morning's International Champions Cup clash in Los Angeles.

A crowd of 93,000 at the Memorial Coliseum saw Man City earn their first win of pre-season with goals by Nicolas Otamendi, Raheem Sterling, John Stones and 17-year-old Brahim Diaz.

Benjamin Mendy, who recently joined the Citizens from AS Monaco, was ruled out with a muscle problem, so Danilo made his debut at left-back against his former club.

Los Blancos enjoyed the better of the opening exchanges, Gareth Bale firing high and wide of target early on before Isco drew a save from Ederson.

The Citizens, however, improved as the half went on and could have been several goals to the good by the half-time whistle were it not for Keylor Navas in between the Real sticks.

The Costa Rican kept out a Gabriel Jesus effort with his feet in the 23rd minute, while Sergio Aguero was also denied despite having plenty of time and space not long after.

Soon enough the pendulum swung back Madrid's way, with Casemiro and Karim Benzema both weighing in with dangerous efforts, but neither side could break the deadlock come the halfway mark.

That changed shortly after the restart, with Otamendi firing into an open net 52 minutes in after substitute Real goalkeeper Kiko Casilla parried a Stones header.

Sterling was next to get his name onto the scoresheet, the half-time sub placing a finish past Casilla at the goalkeeper's near post after combining with an inspired Kevin De Bruyne.

The Belgium international was the architect once again for the third, picking out Stones with a low ball from a short corner for the defender to sweep home with a fine finish from 12 yards.

Madrid had their chances late on before young City midfielder Diaz struck with a fine 20-yard effort into the top corner with eight minutes remaining to leave Real shellshocked.

There was still time for the Spanish giants to claim a consolation, however, youngster Oscar picking the ball up 30 yards out before hitting an unstoppable drive into the top corner with the last kick of the game.