Raheem Sterling scored twice in 12 minutes to lead Manchester City to an 8-1 rout of Vietnam on 27 July, stretching an impressive preseason run following his recent high-profile move from Liverpool in a £49m ($76m, €69m) deal.

Aleksandar Kolarov and David Silva also scored twice for a City side testing out youngsters in a lopsided match before a near-sellout Hanoi crowd.

Marcos 'Rony' Lopes slotted under the keeper after 73 minutes and Jose Angel Pozo made it eight with 12 minutes left.

Vietnam salvaged a consolation goal in the dying seconds when striker Nguyen Van Quyet lobbed the ball over substitute keeper Willy Caballero.

After the match, City Manager Manuel Pellegrini said that he was hopeful that his team will recover the title from Chelsea after winning it in 2014.

"I hope that we are going to have a good performance. Last year we were runner-up after Chelsea. I hope this year we will recover the title," he said.

Pellegrini praised Sterling's efforts, and was confident that he will show that he was worth the massive transfer fee.

"Raheem, I think that he is a very good player, that's why we brought him here to our team. I think he gives us a lot of things we didn't have in our squad. You watch the way he played today, he has a lot of speed and I'm sure that in the future he will demonstrate why we paid so much money for him," said Pellegrini.

One player that is leaving the club is Stevan Jovetic who is set to join Inter Milan subject to a medical there on 28 July. The Montenegrin joined City in 2013, but injuries meant that he was unable to sustain a regular place in the team.

"Yes, unfortunately Stevan had to go because he played here two years, I think he is a very good player, one of the best player I have seen. But unfortunately for him, he has too many injuries, that's why he couldn't play a lot of games in a row," said Pellegrini.

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