The eyes of the world always fall on the Manchester derby.

It's a gigantic game whatever the circumstances and this weekend's Premier League meeting between City and United promises to be intriguing and enthralling in equal measure.

But whatever the outcome, it is unlikely to rival the farcical scenes that caused the abandonment of a fixture between the two sides nine years ago.

The two teams were due to contest the first Manchester derby outside the UK in the International Champions Cup in China during pre-season in 2016.

Except the game was called off, leaving 50,000 fans and a worldwide TV audience disappointed and Pep Guardiola furious.

Heavy rain and thunderstorms at the Bird's Nest Stadium in Beijing meant the contest was called off due to the shambolic state of the pitch.

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