Winning Urawa Reds 3-0 on December 19, Man City entered the FIFA Club World Cup final in their first participation in the tournament.

*Score: Hoibraaten (own goal) 45’+1, Kovacic 52′, Silva 59′.

After thirteen matches, European clubs have never suffered a defeat at the hands of an Asian opponent at the FIFA Club World Cup. During the 19th of December, in the King Abdullah Sports Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, Manchester City demonstrated their ability to extend this accomplishment.

 The first half was a close contest between the two teams, but Urawa Reds fell apart after the first goal was scored and were unable to come up with a surprise against the team that was defending its Champions League title. In the championship match, Man City will face Fluminense, the team who won the Copa Libetadores.

During the encounter between Man City and Urawa Reds that took place on December 19 at King Abdullah Sports Stadium, White midfielder Kovacic scored a goal that brought the score to 2-0 for Man City. Image courtesy of MCFC

An encouraging accomplishment for Urawa Reds, the team that was defeated by Hanoi in the AFC Champions League earlier this month, is that they have made it to the semi-finals of the competition. Following his victory over Club Leon in the quarterfinals, the Japanese representative came into the match against Man City with a sense of excitement and discipline within him. During the first half of the match, Pep Guardiola’s students had a difficult time against the Asian team because of their stringent defense.

Due to the fact that Erling Haaland was unable to participate due to an injury, manager Pep Guardiola also placed Julian Alvarez on the bench, which enabled Manchester City to play against four defenders. the six midfielders and the six defenders. The English representative nonetheless managed to shoot thirteen times in the first half, with four of those shots finding the target. This was despite the fact that there was no true striker in the starting lineup. However, the only reason that Man City was able to take the lead was because of an own goal scored by Marius Hoibraaten in the final minute of the first half, which was a result of a cross from Matheus Nunes.

Following a first half in which they were required to persistently pursue the ball, Urawa Reds shown symptoms of exhaustion throughout the second half of the match. They allowed the Croatian midfielder to score in front of the opposing team in the 52nd minute, which was the next goal that they allowed to be scored. The defenders were unable to keep up with Mateo Kovacic, which allowed him to score. The subject is Shusaku Nishikawa. Once Kovacic had made the move from Chelsea to Manchester City, he scored his first goal for the club.

Man City’s performance in the match was comparable to that of a shooting practice session, while the defending champion England squad ended the game 25 times. Following the goal scored by Kovacic, which brought the score to 2-0, Bernardo Silva clinched the victory with a rebound after Nishikawa blocked Nunes’ attempt. This occurred seven minutes after Kovacic’s goal.

Teammates congratulate Silva (No. 20) after the winning goal. Photo: Reuters

When the image of Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne sitting on the bench was displayed on the big screen during a match that was lopsided, it was the moment that caused more than 40,000 people to feel the most excitement. The two most important players for Manchester City are anticipated to make their comeback in the championship match against Fluminense.

The 23 most recent matches of the FIFA Club World Cup were won by European clubs. Following in the footsteps of Manchester United, Liverpool, and Chelsea, Man City became the fourth English team to advance to the final. The championship match between two representatives from Europe and South America was played for the thirteenth time in a total of nineteen tournaments. Even though they have only won one of their past six matches in the Premier League, Manchester City will be able to recover mentally and win their fifth title of the year if they are successful in defeating Marcelo and his group of colleagues.

Squad

Urawa Reds: Shusaku Nishikawa; Takahiro Sekine, Alexander Scholz, Maruis Hoibraten, Takahiro Akimoto; Atsuki Ito (Ogiwara 57), Ken Iwao (Shibato 78); Tomoaki Okubo (Schalk 57), Kaito Yasui, Yoshio Koizumi (Nakajima 64); Jose Kante (Linssen 64′)

Man City: Ederson; Kyle Walker, John Stones (Gomez 77), Manuel Akanji, Nathan Ake (Gvardiol 65); Rodri (Phillips 77), Matthew Kovacic; Bernardo Silva (Bobb 64), Matthew Nunes, Jack Grealish; Phil Foden (Alvarez 65)