Top Champions League Soccer Managers to Face off in Beijing Manchester Derby

Two of European soccer's all-time great managers will face off on July 25, when FA Cup winners Manchester United play rivals Manchester City at Beijing's National Stadium (Bird's Nest).

Both men are warming up for their first season with new teams. Manchester City announced earlier this year that Josep "Pep" Guardiola would become its manager for the 2016-17 English Premier League (EPL) campaign, his first time managing an EPL club. He won the Bundesliga in his final season with Bayern Munich. Jose Mourinho left Chelsea midway through the season after the 2014-15 EPL champions got off to a disastrous start. He joins Manchester United, which fired Mourinho's former boss at FC Barcelona, Louis Van Gaal, just two days after winning the FA Cup in late May.

The pair are both winners of the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) Champions League, and their respective clubs will look to them to repeat that feat in Manchester. Guardiola won the Champions League with FC Barcelona; Mourinho won it with both Portuguese team Porto and Italian side Internazionale (Inter Milan).

The two Manchester sides – among the English Premier League's (EPL) best-funded teams and one of its most bitter local rivalries – are meeting in China for the first time, although both have played in Beijing before. Manchester City most recently beat Arsenal 2-0 on July 27, 2012, on a rainy night at the National Stadium. Manchester United last came to Beijing in 2005.

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Exactly who will play in Beijing in July is uncertain, with the Euro 2016 European championships running from June 10-July 10, and many top players likely wanting some rest before the new EPL season begins on August 13. It's rare for managers to be the primary draw to a pre-season friendly like City versus United, but both teams are coming off disappointing seasons, having finished fourth (City) and fifth (United), respectively. Both are expected to make significant personnel changes during the summer, and many top players will likely sit out the trip to China, with the Euro 2016 concluding on July 10. The new EPL season begins August 13.

Tickets are not yet on sale. United will also play Borussia Dortmund in Shanghai on July 22, and City will play Dortmund in a city to be confirmed.

Manchester United defeated Manchester City on March 20, 1-0, in the most recent EPL derby at the City of Manchester Stadium.

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