The Citizens reached the World Cup final after beating the AFC Champions.
Manchester City defeated Urawa Reds 3-0 in the Club World Cup semi-finals on Tuesday. A dominant display from the European champions secured their place in the final.
What happened?
As expected, City established their dominance over the possession from the beginning, hoping to kill the game as soon as possible.
Urawa Reds’ solid defense allowed them to survive City’s attacks for almost the entire first half. However, City broke the deadlock through Marius Hoibraten’s own-goal just before the break.
The second half started with more attacks from the Citizens as they doubled their lead in the 52nd minute. The Croatian star latched onto a fantastic through ball from Kyle Walker before beating the goalkeeper with a powerful finish.
Only six minutes later, City secured their victory with another goal. This time, Bernardo Silva slotted the ball into the right corner of the net to make it 3-0 for the European champions.
After the third goal, both sides made a host of changes, and the pace of the game dropped significantly. The Citizens reached the World Cup final after an easy victory at the King Abdullah Stadium.
Player Ratings
Urawa Reds: Nishikawa (5), Akimoto (6), Hoibraaten (4), Ito (6), Iwao (5), Kante (5), Koizumi (5), Okubo (4), Scholz (5), Sekine (5), Yusui (5).
Bench: Ogiwara (5), Schalk (6), Nakajima (5), Linssen (6), Shibato (6).
Man City: Ederson (7), Walker (8), Stones (7), Akanji (7), Ake (7), Rodrigo (8), Kovacic (7), Nunes (8), B. Silva (8), Grealish (8), Foden (7).
Bench: Bobb (7), Gvardiol (6), Alvarez (6), Phillips (6), Gomez (7).
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