City are one step closer to winning a new trophy! Two rebounds and a brilliant pass from the defender helped

City are one step closer to winning a new trophy! Two rebounds and a brilliant pass from the defender helped

Kirill Zakatchenko December 19, 2023, 23:21 Moscow time Audio version: Your browser does not support the audio element.

The Champions League winner defeated Japan’s Urawa in the Club World Cup. Ahead is the final with the best team in South America.

Manchester City debuted in the Club World Cup. The English team calmly crushed the rival and took another step towards a new trophy.

Manchester City, under the leadership of Pep Guardiola, has won almost everything it can. He collected all the national trophies (EPL, FA Cup, League Cup, Super Cup) and at the end of last season he completed the gestalt and won the Champions League. Furthermore, in the summer of 2023, City won the UEFA Super Cup. All that remains is to win the Club World Cup, which in its current form is being played for the last time.

We tell you what the Club World Cup will be like in the future:

The last Club World Cup in history starts with the current format. Soon it will change dramatically

City’s first rival in the Saudi Arabia tournament was Urawa Red Diamonds. At the end of last season, the Japanese team won the Asian equivalent of the Champions League. But in the new tournament he completely failed: his performance in the group stage ended. Furthermore, they finished the season in the J-League only in fourth place and lost in the final of the Japanese League Cup against Fukuoka (1-2).

City has its own problems: only one victory in the last six games of the English championship. It got to the point where the current tournament winner fell to fourth place. Now it would be very good for him to win the Club World Cup. The format of the tournament favors the winners of the Champions League and Copa Libertadores. Both Manchester City and Fluminense started directly from the semi-finals. They could only face each other in the final.

City missed the victory in the previous match, although the rival only had two shots on goal:

City sensationally missed out on the win! Is there really any intrigue in the Premier League?

In the first half, City had an overwhelming lead. And if in the first minutes the English team did not have enough shots, then they noticeably improved their game. At the end of the first half, Manchester had the ball 76% of the playing time, took 13 shots (four on goal) and took six corner kicks. Urawa responded with a single shot and a corner.

Kyle Walker (left) scored a great assist in the game against Urawa

Photo: Francois Nel/Getty Images

Despite this advantage, City were unable to score. To some extent, I was lucky that my opponent helped. Urava’s Norwegian defender, Marius Høybroten, put the ball into his own goal after a cross from Matheus Nunez. It was the first minute added. It is difficult to say whether the ball would have reached Núñez’s teammate or not, but everything ended well for City.

Almost immediately after the break, the Premier League club put an end to the intrigue. Here it is worth highlighting Kyle Walker’s brilliant pass to Mateo Kovacic. The Croatian escaped from the defenders and calmly beat the goalkeeper with a powerful shot under the crossbar. Of course, one can remember how a few days ago City lost the victory, leading 2-0 in the English championship. But this was not the case.

Video rights belong to National Sports Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match TV page on VKontakte.

Furthermore, a few minutes later Bernardo Silva surprised his rival for the third time. By the way, poor Heubroten suffered again in this episode. The ball bounced off the Norwegian, changed direction and flew towards the nearest corner. This is what bad luck looks like.

Video rights belong to National Sports Channel LLC. You can watch the video on the Match TV page on VKontakte.

The end of the game essentially became a formality. Thus, Urawa will compete for third place in the tournament with the Egyptian Al-Ahly. And Man City awaits the final match against the best club in South America, Fluminense. Both matches will take place on December 22.