Just days before the Community Shield final, the surprise that Guardiola gives Julian Alvarez

Manchester City is preparing for the first final of the season. The English team will face Arsenal FC in the Community Shield, a title that eluded the club the previous year. Said contest pits the Premier League champion against the FA Cup champion. However, since City won both, Arsenal was selected for being the best second place in both competitions.

One of the big unknowns for this season is precisely the role that Pep Guardiola has in mind with Julian Alvarez. After the Argentine signed a very positive season in the last year, the great level of Erling Haaland certainly limited the amount of play from him. However, now it is surprising what Pep will decide with the Argentine.

Julián decided to stay at City and Pep Guardiola will reward him for his act of loyalty. The Catalan coach not only used him as a starter in all the pre-season games, but now the newspaper As reports that sources close to the coach assure that Álvarez will have a more leading role in the new campaign, partly due to the loss of Riyad Mahrez and the imminent departure of Bernardo Silva.

Will Julián Álvarez be a starter in the Community Shield?

Manchester must face Arsenal to officially start the season and the Argentine could appear in the starting eleven. Pep used Haaland and Julián together in the last friendly and that could be repeated at Wembley. It should be remembered that the Spider scored his first goal as a citizen in this same competition, but against Liverpool.