Erling Haaland Watches Manchester City Beat Urawa Red Diamonds To Reach FIFA Club World Cup Final

Manchester City will face Fluminense in the final of the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup after beating Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0. Erling Haaland did not play.

Manchester City will face Fluminense in the final of the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup after beating Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0 in Jeddah.

A Marius Hoibraten own goal put City in front just before half-time in Tuesday's semi-final.

Mateo Kovacic then made it 2-0 by scoring the first goal of his City career in the 52nd minute before Bernardo Silva wrapped up the victory seven minutes later.

Friday's final - which will also take place at Jeddah's King Abdullah Sports City - is expected to provide Pep Guardiola's team with a much tougher test.

City named a strong starting XI against Urawa but star men Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne were both forced to watch from the sidelines due to injury issues.

Haaland and De Bruyne traveled to Saudi Arabia but were not included in City's 23-man squad for the tournament.

Manchester City striker Erling Haaland pictured watching from the sidelines during his team's FIFA Club World Cup semi-final win over Urawa Red Diamonds on Tuesday :: IMAGO/Bildbyran/Joel Marklund

Julian Alvarez began on the bench, meaning that City kicked off without a recognized striker on the pitch.

Nevertheless, City's starting team featured plenty of creative players, including Silva, Matheus Nunes, Jack Grealish and Phil Foden.

Unsurprisingly, City dominated possession in the first half - with 77% of the ball.

Urawa keeper Shusaku Nishikawa was called into action to make four saves during the opening 45 minutes, displaying sharp reflexes to stop efforts from Silva, Foden and two from Nunes.

But Nishikawa was finally beaten in first-half added time when a low cross from Nunes was deflected into the net by a sliding Hoibraten.

Urawa Red Diamonds defender Marius Hoibraten pictured (bottom right) moments after scoring an own goal to put Manchester City 1-0 up in Tuesday's game :: IMAGO/Bildbyran/Joel Marklund

A fine assist by Kyle Walker then set up Kovacic for City's second goal.

Right-back Walker prodded a brilliant pass with the outside of his right boot and Kovacic ran in between two defenders to get to the ball.

Kovacic then carried the ball for 25 yards before smashing a fine shot high into the net.

Mateo Kovacic pictured celebrating after scoring his first goal for Manchester City :: IMAGO/Bildbyran/Joel Marklund

Silva's goal came moments after Nunes had forced keeper Nishikawa into his sixth save of the match.

The ball rebounded to Silva, who fired a low shot into the bottom corner from 17 yards via a slight deflection off the unfortunate Hoibraten.

City's victory means that there will be a European participant in the Club World Cup final for the 19th year in a row.

Fifteen of the last 18 finals have been won by a team from Europe, with the other three all being won by a club from Brazil. Sao Paulo beat Liverpool in 2005, Internacional overcame Barcelona in 2006, and Corinthians got the better of Chelsea in 2012.

Fluminense qualified for the 2023 Club World Cup by winning the Copa Libertadores in November.

The Brazilian side beat African champions Al Ahly 2-0 in their semi-final on Monday.