he chaos¹ surrounding the cancellation² of Monday’s Manchester derby in Beijing will not deter³ either club from touring the Far East in future, according to United executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward and his City counterpart Ferran Soriano.

原定于周一在北京进行的曼彻斯特德比被取消。曼联的执行副主席艾德•伍德沃德和曼城的首席执行官费兰•索里亚诺都表示，由此造成的混乱并不会阻碍两家俱乐部未来继续来远东巡回比赛。

The game was called off less than five hours before kick-off due to the awful state of the pitch at the Bird’s Nest Stadium following overnight downpours.

因前夜暴雨导致鸟巢体育馆的球场状况不佳，比赛在距离开场不到五小时宣布取消。

It highlighted the problem of playing pre-season games during the rainy season here after United and City both experienced severe problems with the pitch on their visit to Hong Kong three years ago.

曼联和曼城队都在三年前造访香港时因球场而遭遇严重问题，本次更突出了在雨季进行季前热身赛的问题。

However, the huge commercial spin-offs in China make it more than worthwhile. United have an estimated 110million fans here, while City’s decision to sell a 13 percent stake in their parent company to a group of Chinese investors⁴ for ￡265m in December underlined their bold plans in the Far East.

然而，在中国产生的巨大商业效应证明这一切是绝对值得的。曼联在这里有大约有1.1亿球迷，而曼城去年12月以2.65亿英镑向中国投资者出售母公司13%的股份，也显示了其在远东的大胆计划。

Therefore, it was no surprise to hear both clubs insisting that they will be happy to return to the region in future despite the problems they have encountered over the past few days.

因此，尽管过去几天里碰到一些问题，听闻两家俱乐部强调他们很愿意在未来重回此地也并不奇怪。

Woodward said: ‘The recent torrential rain would have caused problems anywhere in the world and has left the pitch unplayable.

伍德沃德说：“最近的暴雨在世界任何地方都会带来麻烦，导致球场无法进行比赛。”

‘We know our fans in China will, like the players and staff, be saddened by the cancellation of the match, but I am sure they appreciate that the players’ safety has to be the top priority.

“我们明白，我们的中国粉丝会因比赛取消而难过，球员和工作人员也是一样。但我相信，他们理解球员的安全必须放在首位。”

‘I am sure we will return to the Bird’s Nest in the future to give them the chance to see the team in action.’

“我可以肯定，将来我们会重返鸟巢，让他们有机会看到球队的比赛。”

While United flew home from China on Monday, City will carry on to Shenzhen, where they meet Borussia Dortmund on Thursday.

周一，曼联从中国返英，而曼城将继续开赴深圳，于周四对阵多特蒙德。

Soriano, City’s chief executive, said: ‘We know how much everyone was looking forward to the game, but we understand that this bad weather is beyond anyone’s control, and that the rain has made it totally unsafe to play on this pitch.

曼城首席执行官索里亚诺表示：“我们知道大家对比赛有多么期待，但我们明白，糟糕的天气无人可以掌控。大雨之后，在这个球场上踢球毫无安全性可言。”

‘It has been a pleasure and an honour to experience such a warm welcome from the people and supporters here in Beijing, and we remain committed to playing here in the future.’

“在北京受到群众和支持者们如此热情的欢迎，我们很高兴也很荣幸。将来也会继续来这里踢球。”

The playing surface at the Bird’s Nest resembled a patchwork⁵ quilt after desperate attempts were made to ensure the first Manchester derby to be staged on foreign soil went ahead.

为确保首场在国外打响的曼切斯特德比顺利开展，主办方不顾一切进行了努力，但鸟巢的球场草皮还是有如拼布床单。

But the match was called off just after 7am UK time following a pitch inspection⁶ and 90 minutes of talks between delegations⁷ from clubs and organisers of the International Champions Cup.

比赛在英国时间上午7点后宣布取消。此前，国际冠军杯的主办方和俱乐部代表进行了90分钟的谈话并检查了场地。

The ICC insisted that the 50,000 fans who paid between ￡60 and ￡300 for tickets will be reimbursed⁸, but many were upset when they learned of the decision to cancel the game after reaching the stadium.

国际冠军杯方面表示，花费了60到300英镑买票的5万名球迷将获得退款。但许多到达场馆后得知比赛取消的粉丝感到非常失望。

United fan Hu Mu Lin said: ‘I am angry because I had a ticket and now they can’t play the match. We drove here by car and it took six or seven hours with my father and my friend.’

曼联的粉丝胡木林（音）说：“我很气愤，因为我买了票可现在他们不能比赛了。我和我的父亲和朋友开了六七个小时的车到这里来。”

City supporter Sun Zhenbo, who had travelled 700 miles from Suihua, added: ‘We have come to Beijing especially for this. I don’t know how this has happened. We cannot accept it. It took us eight hours by train to get here and then we walked for two hours from Tiananmen Square to get to the stadium.’

支持曼城的孙振博（音）从700英里外的黑龙江省绥化市赶来，他补充道：“我们特地为了比赛来到北京。我不知道怎么就取消了。这让人无法接受。我们花了八个小时坐火车来京，又从天安门广场走了两个小时才到场馆。”

The bad weather also forced United’s team flight to divert to Tianjin on Saturday night, while Jose Mourinho’s pre-match press conference was initially⁹ scrapped¹⁰ and then moved outside because of the intense humidity.

糟糕的天气还迫使周六晚曼联队乘坐的航班转飞天津。而何塞•穆里尼奥的赛前发布会一开始被取消，而后因新闻中心太过潮湿而转移到了室外。