Error

Manchester City and Fluminense face off in the grand final of the FIFA Club World Cup this Friday afternoon, December 22, 2023, starting at 3pm. The match will be played at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium, in the city of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Manchester City

The Manchester City team suffered a considerable technical loss with the absences of Doku, De Bruyne and Haaland, who are injured and are confirmed absences for this decision.

However, the team led by Spanish coach Pep Guardiola has a super qualified squad that is used to competing against the richest clubs in the world, being the current three-time champion of the English Premier League and also champion of the prestigious European Champions League.

The team arrives confident of winning another significant trophy under the command of Guardiola, who is in his seventh season at the club and has been piling up achievements.

Just like their opponents, Manchester City debuted in the Club World Cup directly in the semi-final, where they faced Urawa Red Diamonds, from Japan, and managed to completely control the offensive actions of the match in the overwhelming 3-0 victory.

There were 3 wins, 1 draw and 1 defeat in the last 5 officially played matches of the season, beating Luton, Urawa Red Diamonds and also Red Star, in addition to drawing with Crystal Palace and losing to Aston Villa.

Fluminense

On the other side is Fluminense, who, like their opponents, also won their first continental title in 2023 and are hoping to become world champions this Friday.

Arriving with the status of great underdogs against the powerful European team, Fluminense has already proven its value with a spectacular campaign in the Copa Libertadores and also did well in using the greater experience of its players to manage to defeat Al Ahly, from Egypt, in the semi-finals of the World Cup, with a 2-0 victory.

The team led by coach Fernando Diniz has the characteristic of maintaining possession of the ball and adopting a very aggressive stance, however, given the huge disparity in investment compared to the English, the stance adopted by Rio’s Tricolor is still a big unknown for this big decision.

With maximum strength available, Fluminense has players of a high technical level and very experienced such as Marcelo, Felipe Melo, Fábio, Cano and Ganso, in addition to having young players who are experiencing their respective physical peaks.

In the last 5 official matches of the season, there were 3 wins, no draws and 2 defeats, beating Al Ahly, Coritiba and Santos, in addition to losing to Grêmio and also to Palmeiras.

Conclusion:

Even though Manchester City suffered important losses for the World Cup, the English team still arrives with the status of great favorites to win, but as Fluminense has technically qualified players and rarely goes through a blank match, the expectation is that we will have a very busy duel between the English and Brazilians, with a high chance of at least three goals scored in regulation time.