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The Arsenal manager, Mikel Arteta, has backed “warrior” Bruno Guimarães to “ignite something different” in the Premier League champions. The Brazil midfielder was introduced to fans ahead of Sunday’s 3-2 defeat by Borussia Dortmund in the Emirates Cup after completing his £75m move from Newcastle.
The 28-year-old, who has signed a four-year deal, bolsters a midfield which already includes Declan Rice, Martin Ødegaard, Mikel Merino, Martín Zubimendi and Eberechi Eze.
“You can see the immediate reaction,” Arteta told the club website after Guimarães was given a warm reception by supporters. “I think he describes himself as a warrior. I think he’s a warrior with a tremendous quality as well, and intuition and leadership and charisma that is going to help us. That is going to really ignite something different in the team. I think he’s going to push everybody inside the team as well and that’s the type of player that we need.”
After finishing runners-up for three successive seasons, Arsenal ended their 22-year wait for the Premier League title last term, in addition to reaching the Champions League and Carabao Cup finals. Guimarães watched on against Dortmund as an Ethan Nwaneri strike and a Viktor Gyökeres penalty were not enough to prevent defeat.
Samuele Inácio, Konstantinos Karetsas and Joane Gadou scored for the Bundesliga side at the Emirates Stadium, before Arsenal won a pre-arranged penalty shootout 5-4.
“Disappointed that we lost the game,” said Arteta, who gave Ødegaard his first minutes of pre-season following the World Cup and will welcome back his full squad on Monday. “I think there were some poor moments where we were not very recognisable, especially in set-pieces and defending actions and timings that we are normally very efficient [in].
“Some other very, very positive attacking combinations, big chances that didn’t finish in anything because of the final pass because they were completely open. But, overall, disappointed because you want to win the games in any context and today, we haven’t managed to do that.”
The Manchester City manager, Enzo Maresca, praised the impact of his wide players after Antoine Semenyo supplied assists for Omar Marmoush in a 3-1 victory over Atlético Madrid to wrap up their preseason tour of Asia.
Marmoush scored twice in the space of three minutes early in the second half before substitute Rayan Aït-Nouri added a third in stoppage time, helping City overturn a half-time deficit in front of more than 50,000 fans at Seoul World Cup Stadium.
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“Overall, it was a very good test against one of the best teams in Europe,” Maresca said. “Credit to the players for the effort they have done. From tomorrow pre-season is finished and the real business starts.”
Semenyo finished the Asia tour with four assists in three matches, while Savinho also impressed on the opposite flank. Aït-Nouri completed the scoring late on, but Maresca said City still needed greater efficiency in front of goal.
“We need to be clinical. It’s something we need to improve,” he said. “Slowly we are getting there and with Erling (Haaland) we can be even more dangerous. Today Omar scored twice. This is a boost.”
Maresca said he was encouraged by the progress made during his first three matches in charge after succeeding Pep Guardiola, with City ending their Asia tour with a draw against Inter, before a penalty shootout defeat, and victories over a K League All-Stars side and Atlético.
