Abu Dhabi Diary: Day One | OneFootball

A behind-the-scenes look at Manchester City’s first full day on our Abu Dhabi warm weather training camp…

Gareth Taylor’s side are in Abu Dhabi for the week to sharpen up ahead of the second half of the 2024/25 season.

City return to action on Sunday 12 January in the FA Cup against Ipswich Town, before two clashes with Manchester United in the Barclays Women’s Super League and League Cup in the space of three days.

Friday morning began with the team taking part in the first commercial window of the week, with Risa Shimizu, Aoba Fujino and Ayaka Yamashita travelling to the Louvre – an art museum located on Saadiyat Island.

The trio viewed some of the gallery’s exhibits before taking in some of the stunning architecture and posing for photos.

Meanwhile, Laia Aleixandri, Khiara Keating, Tara O’Hanlon, Jill Roord, Lauren Hemp and Naomi Layzell travelled to City Challenge to test themselves on a number of different football-related activities.

It’s an incredible interactive experience which Demi Stokes, Steph Houghton and Khadija ‘Bunny’ Shaw visited in 2024, with the players testing their reactions and skills.

GET YOUR ETIHAD DERBY TICKETS!

Laura Coombs, Laura Blindkilde Brown and Leila Ouahabi’s activity, meanwhile, saw them travel to Erth restaurant to sample some authentic Emirati cuisine.

Once media duties were over, many of the squad took the opportunity for a brief rest before training, relaxing at the hotel’s private beach, before focus turned to our first training session over at Emirates Palace.

Unfortunately, City brought the Manchester weather with us to Abu Dhabi with the heavens opening just ahead of the players’ arrival.

It did nothing to dampen the quality that was on show though, with new signing Rebecca Knaak looking sharp in her first session as a City player.

Vivianne Miedema, returning to full training, also looked back to her best with some flicks and tricks in small-sided exercises.

After training, Miedema, Yui Hasegawa, Laura Blindkilde Brown and Fujino stayed out to practice some of their keepy-uppy skills, while Lily Murphy was hard at work in some shooting drills under the watchful eye of Nicky Ajose.