For Pep Guardiola, Manchester City's pre-season friendly against Preston was all about building up match fitness for his players ahead of the Community Shield curtain-raiser against Leicester on August 7.
But Guardiola also will have been quietly delighted by what he saw from a City team that consisted of a mix of senior stars and youngsters looking to prove their worth ahead of the 2021-22 Premier League campaign.
Riyad Mahrez opened the scoring for City with an exquisite free-kick in the first half before City youngsters James McAtee and Samuel Edozie brilliantly combined to seal a routine 2-0 victory.