Man City beat Urawa to reach 'once-in-a-lifetime' final

Manchester City restricted Urawa Red Diamonds to just two shots while having 25 themselves

Manchester City swept past Urawa Red Diamonds to set up a meeting with South American champions Fluminense in the final of the Club World Cup on Friday.

The Japanese club had offered plenty of resistance until then and limited City to few clear-cut opportunities.

However, after the break it was a different story, with Mateo Kovacic quickly adding City's second - running through the heart of an absent Urawa defence to latch on to Kyle Walker's pass and lift his effort past goalkeeper Shusaku Nishikawa.

Portugal midfielder Bernardo Silva added City's third before the hour mark, guiding a effort low into the bottom right corner after his international team-mate Nunes had a shot blocked by Nishikawa.

In truth, City's margin of victory could and should have been more with Nunes, Jack Grealish and second-half substitutes Oscar Bobb and Julian Alvarez all failing to convert good opportunities when well placed.

Brazil's Fluminense had beaten Al Ahly 2-0 in the first semi-final played on Monday and City's victory ensures the 13th meeting between the champions of Europe and their South American counterparts in the showpiece match since 2005.

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Man City on course to close the circle

After winning the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and Uefa Super Cup, Guardiola had spoken about this competition as an opportunity to "close the little circle and win all the trophies" possible.

And his team will be undoubted favourites when they face their opponents from Rio de Janeiro later this week in a match being played at the King Abdullah Sports City, north of Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.

Fluminense should, though, at least represent a step up in class from Urawa, who were defensively disciplined until they fell behind but struggled to build any sort of attacking momentum to chase the game.

The gulf in class between the sides was underlined by Urawa boss Maciej Skorza summoning former Ross County forward Alex Schalk from his bench as his team chased the game.

In contrast Guardiola had Alvarez, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and the out-of-favour Kalvin Phillips in reserve, while Nunes, a £53m summer arrival from Wolves, cost City more than it took to assemble the entire Urawa squad.

And even despite the continued absence of the prolific Erling Haaland and midfield playmaker Kevin de Bruyne, there was a formidable look to the Blues as they close in on a fifth trophy of the calendar year.