Club World Cup Preview - Manchester City VS Ain: Rodri returns as a substitute, Manchester City becomes the biggest favorite to win the championship

Ain comes from the UAE. Boss Zayed and Manchester City boss Mansour are brothers. Manchester City VS Ain, the real brother derby, but the difference in strength is too great.

In order to qualify in the group and be the first in the group, Manchester City will not talk about "brotherhood" in this game. If you want to talk about it, then go to Real Madrid in the 1/8 finals!

According to Opta statistics, Manchester City ranked first with 17.78% of this Club World Cup, Paris ranked second with 17.37%, Bayern ranked third with 15.18%, and Xavi Alonso's Real Madrid ranked sixth with 9.21%. After the first round of the Group G, Juventus and Manchester City both defeated their opponents and scored 3 points. Juventus, with a goal difference of 5 goals, ranked first, and Manchester City, with a goal difference of 2 goals, ranked second. In the second round, Manchester City defeated Ain to ensure qualifying, and competed with Juventus for the first place in the group in the final round. The second opponent in Group G in the 1/8 finals is Group H first, and it is very likely to be Real Madrid, so the first in the group is very important.

This battle is Ain's life-and-death battle for qualifying. If he loses, he will be eliminated early. After all, there is also a strong Juventus in this group.

Manchester City vs Ain

Nature of the match: Club World Cup Group G Round 2

Match time: June 23 9:00

Although Guardiola confirmed that it will rotate up to 10 people, Manchester City's tactical execution is still impeccable. In the first game against Vadard, the team won the team with an efficient performance of 68% possession rate and 15 shots and 6 shots on the right. Foden made a pass and shot to show his core value. Haaland is confirmed to return to the front line in this game. His partner with substitute surprise Savignho will directly point to Ain's weak defense line that was pierced by five times in the first game.

Manchester City scored in 5 games in the last 7 games, and averaged less than 0.3 goals per game. The first match between the central defender Dias and Ake perfectly blocked the opponent's counterattack. The only hidden danger is that fullback Lewis has been suspended from red card, but new players Ait Nuri or Nunes can make up for the position immediately, who has played a steady appearance as a right-back several times last season.

Guardiola won all 9 games in the Club World Cup in his coaching career, scoring 27 goals and conceding only 2 goals. His tactical system suppresses non-European teams, which can be regarded as a dimensional reduction blow. Even with the rotation of the lineup, Manchester City can still rely on Rodri and Gundogan's control ability to incorporate the game into the familiar passing and control rhythm.

Guardiola revealed before the game that Rodri should be able to play for 20 to 30 minutes.

Ain lost 0-5 to Juventus to set the second largest score difference in Club World Cup history. The team only scored twice and had a passive situation of 36% possession rate, exposing its gap with the top Europeans. New goalkeeper Patricio (37) made his first disaster-level performance, which triggered a crisis of trust on the defense line.

coach Vladimir Ivic faces a dilemma: if he persists in the 5-4-1 iron barrel formation, he may repeat the collapse of conceding 4 goals in the first half; if he takes the initiative to push, he may be hit by Manchester City's counterattack - the team's goal conceded as high as 80% in the last 10 away games, and his ability to withstand pressure is worrying.

In this battle, Manchester City won a big victory.