The match between Manchester City and Liverpool will take place on Saturday in the Community Shield match, which annually brings together the champions of the Premier League and the Cup, which was influenced by the conflict between the newcomers, the Norwegian strikers of the “citizens”, Erling Halland and the “Reds” Uruguayan Darwin Nunez. Attention is focused on the King Power Stadium a week before the start of the new league season, and there is great pressure on Halland and Nunez, who are eager to prove the right to sign them for huge sums of money in the coming months.

City and Liverpool have put more than £100m ($121m) on the table during the summer transfer market to bring in some of the best strikers on the European continent, and the competition for the top spot in English football has intensified in recent years.

City’s fourth league title in the past five seasons has reflected the city’s remarkably stable image, but Guardiola’s idealistic personality and footballing philosophy keep him from resting on his laurels.

The former coach of Barcelona and Bayern Munich opened the door to many of his cadres: Brazilian striker Gabriel Jesus and Ukrainian defender Oleksandr Zinchenko left for Arsenal, Raheem Sterling moved to Chelsea, and Fernandinho returned to Atlético Paranaense.

Realizing that City’s success last season had been achieved despite the absence of a clear striker, Guardiola took the step of bringing in one of the Old Continent’s brightest young stars, 22-year-old Norwegian avant-garde Halland from Borussia Dortmund for £51m.

The ability of the young giant player (1.94kg and 88kg) to integrate into City’s creative reserve will be a major element in determining the direction of the race for local and continental titles.

Indeed, early signs look promising as it took Haaland just 12 minutes to open his account in his new team’s shirt in his first match against City, scoring the winning goal in a friendly against Bayern Munich.