With 24 players on board Borussia Dortmund will head off on their second Asia Tour in the space of a year tonight. It is their third in total. The sporting highlights will be the clashes with English giants Manchester United and Manchester City, fixtures organised as part of the International Champions Cup.

image

Friday's fixture (kick-off 14:05 CET) will see the Black and Yellows take on Manchester United in a clash that will reunite the club with the recently departed Henrikh Mkhitaryan. The match will take place in the metropolis of Shanghai, which is home to some 15 million inhabitants and the destination of the squad's flight from Frankfurt tonight. Matthias Ginter was forced to withdraw from the 25-man squad at short notice due to a gastrointestinal infection.

On 28 July (kick-off 13:35 CET), Borussia Dortmund will play in the tournament's final match in Shenzhen – one of the world's fastest-growing cities – against Manchester City, where Pep Guardiola has recently taken over the reins. "We're delighted to be taking part in a tournament involving teams of such outstanding quality," emphasised BVB CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke. Director of Marketing Carsten Cramer added: "We have BVB's extraordinary performances over the past few years to thank for the fact that we are the only non-Premier League club that has been invited to such an extraordinary tournament." (br)

The squad for the China Tour: 1 Weidenfeller, 38 Bürki, 39 Bonmann – 2 Hober, 3 Park, 5 Bartra, 6 Bender, 7 Dembéle, 8 Sahin, 9 Mor, 14 Leitner, 17 Aubameyang, 18 Rode, 20 Ramos, 21 Larsen, 22 Pulisic, 23 Kagawa, 24 Merino, 25 Sokratis, 27 Castro, 29 Schmelzer, 30 Passlack, 32 Burnic, 37 Durm