Football News: Barcelona and Manchester City fundraiser attended by 90,000 fans as clubs raise awareness for ALS

Barcelona and Manchester City paused their respective seasons to participate in fundraising for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis (ALS) research at Camp Nou.

More than 90,000 fans attended the game and gave a standing ovation to Juan Carlos Unzué, a former club goalkeeper and assistant head coach. He was diagnosed with progressive neurological disease two years ago.

Unzue won the Champions League, two La Liga titles, and one Copa del Rey as Luis Enrique's assistant coach at Barcelona before taking over as Girona's head coach in 2020.

As an honorary coach, he sat in his wheelchair next to Barça manager Xavi Hernández for the whole game on Wednesday.

Unzue played with City coach Pep Guardiola at Camp Nou between 1988 and 1990. He later joined his coaching staff between 2008 and 2010, when Barcelona won six trophies when current Blaugrana boss Xavi Hernandez was a player.

Following spells in command of Numancia and Racing Santander, he returned to Barcelona as Luis Enrique's coach in 2014, helping the Catalan club win their second ever Treble the following season.

Unzue delivered an emotional pre-game address and took the honorary kickoff from his wheelchair on the pitch before joining Guardiola in the City dugout for the first half.

Manchester City VS Barcelona draw

Manchester City took an early lead through 22-year-old Argentine striker Julian Alvarez after a mistake by Barcelona goalkeeper Iaki Pena, with both clubs resting many key players.

Manchester City took the lead thanks to Argentine attacker Julian Alvarez, assisted by Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and Frenkie de Jong.

Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang equalised in the 29th minute from a rebound in what was likely his final game for Barcelona before joining Chelsea. In the 66th minute, Frenkie de Jong put Barcelona ahead, but Cole Palmer equalised for the English champions four minutes later.

Cole Palmer had earlier scored, but Riyad Mahrez's penalty deep into injury time sealed the draw.

After a brilliant counter-attack spearheaded by Sergi Roberto, substitute Memphis Depay gave Barcelona the lead once more with a goal from inside the area. In injury time, City substitute Erling Haaland was tripped inside the box, and Riyad Mahrez converted the penalty.

The game was delayed for several minutes so that 18-year-old City defender Luke Mbete could receive medical attention after being hit in the head by Andreas Christensen.