Silkmen face Chengdu Blades

Macclesfield Town have announced a further pre-season friendly, this time against Chinese top flight opposition Chengdu Blades.

Chengdu Blades, named after Sheffield United, who own 90% of the club, were promoted last season into the Chinese Super League. The game which sealed promotion was a 0-0 draw against Jiangsu Shuntian played in front of 36,000 fans.

Blades are currently in the middle of their season, which runs from February to December, and have now played 10 matches leaving them in 8th place in the League following a 2-1 away defeat at third placed Shandong Luneng on Saturday with their consolation goal coming from Jiang Xiao Yu.

They play a home game against Wuhan Guanggu today (Wednesday)

The Westernmost team in the Chinese Superleague, the club’s home city of Chengdu has a population of more than 11 million. The city is also the capital of the earthquake hit Sichuan province which a population of around 100 million.

Chinese international Lie Tie (pictured above), formerly of Everton and Sheffield United, is possibly their best known player, they also have another China international in club top scorer Wang Song and Jamiacan international Demar Stewart amongst their ranks.

It certainly proves to be an interesting tie and a great test for the Silkmen against a club who are already in full swing of their season.