John Stones, Manuel Akanji, Mateo Kovacic and Matheus Nunes all come into the starting XI, with Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol, Rico Lewis and Julian Alvarez on the bench.
Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and Kevin De Bruyne are all unavailable through injury and miss out.
Teams
Urawa Red Diamonds
Starting XI: Nishikawa, Sekine, Scholz, Hoibraten, Akimoto, Ito, Iwao, Okubo, Yasui, Kosumi, Martinez
Subs: Niekawa, Yoshida, Sakai, Iwanami, Ogiwara, Ohata, Nakajima, Shibato, Panya, Linssen, Schalk, Koroki
Manchester City
Starting XI: Ederson, Walker (C), Stones, Akanji, Ake, Rodrigo, Kovacic, Nunes, Bernardo, Grealish, Foden
Subs: Ortega Moreno, Carson, Dias, Phillips, Alvarez, Gomez, Gvardiol, Bobb, Alleyne, Susoho, Lewis, Hamilton
Next Fixture
All fixturesFIFA Club World Cup
GMT
Tactics
It looks like 4-3-3 for City this evening, with Phil Foden back in the false 9 role he occupied during the 2021/22 season.
Ederson is in goal, and his distribution, as ever, will often be the catalyst for City’s build-up from the back.
Kyle Walker captains the side and will look to get forward down the right-hand side, with Nathan Ake on the left. John Stones partners Manuel Akanji at the heart of City’s defence.
Rodrigo will; anchor the midfield, with Mateo Kovacic and Metheus Nunes ahead of him.
And the three-pronged attack will see Bernardo Silva on the right and Jack Grealish on the left supporting Foden in his central role.
For an in-depth look at Urawa Red Diamonds, check out our report by Dan Orlowitz of the Japan Times.
A chance to reset and make history?
Saturday’s draw at home to Crystal Palace, which saw Michael Olise equalise for the visitors in the 95th minute, made it three home draws in succession for City in the Premier League, leaving us fourth in the table as we set off for participation in the Club World Cup.
And although the 3000-mile trip will undoubtedly have taken it out of the players, this week-long stay in Saudi Arabia offers a chance for a change of scenery, some warm-weather training and a new competition to focus on.
There’s also a shot at history at stake here in Jeddah. If City can win this competition, we would become the first English side in history to hold the Premier League, FA Cup, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup simultaneously.
Guardiola’s significant Club World Cup experience
This is City’s first ever appearance in the Club World Cup, which, by its very nature, is a tournament that brings together sides unfamiliar with one another for a showpiece global event.
City, however, have a manager with plenty of experience in this competition. Guardiola has led teams into three Club World Cups in the past, winning each time (Barcelona 2009 and 2011 and Bayern Munich 2013). Only Carlo Ancelotti can match his record.
The Catalan also has huge respect for Japanese football. Having played City Football Group side Yokohama F Marinos in 2019 and 2023 as part of our pre-season preparations – and on both occasions feeling the full force of their high-octane, possession-based game that underpins the Japanese approach – Guardiola will take nothing for granted against Urawa Red Diamonds this evening.
“To reach the final is tricky. We don’t know them much, we got as much information as possible,” Guardiola said on Tuesday evening in his pre-match press conference.
“Japan’s national team is beating Germany, winning games against the best in the world. Football in Japan is strong.”
Every match at the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup is available to watch in the UK on TNT Sports and FIFA+. For fans outside of the UK, click here to find out how you can watch the matches in Saudi Arabia.
The official Man City app will also have free live radio commentary as part of our usual Matchday Live show that includes studio guests previewing and analysing the action.
