Manchester City – Al Ain

Manchester City and Al Ain are sure to show some effective football

Manchester City and Al Ain played their first games of the group stage of the Club World Cup in very different ways. Despite the fact that the English club came to the United States "hungry" after a disappointing season in Europe, Pep Guardiola immediately emphasised a pragmatic approach to solving issues on the pitch. The Spanish coach of the Mancunians, apparently, painted a personnel strategy for the entire "distance" of the group stage. In the main squad for their opening game against Vidad, newcomers Reynders and Sherki took to the pitch. On the bench, however, Holand and Rodri, who missed almost all of last season, started the match. There is little doubt that deep personnel changes will be in City's line-up for the meeting with Al Ain. Manchester City won their first match of the tournament without any problems. Foden scored for the Moroccans early in the game and assisted Dock at the end of the first half. Vidad, of course, played back and looked quite capable, but the impression remained that Manchester City could at any moment increase the "turnovers" on the field several times. Whatever the line-up of Guardiola's team for the upcoming match, it will definitely be made up of classy players who will be important to prove themselves. Al Ain's start in the Club World Cup has been disappointing, to say the least. The multiple UAE Championship winners could not withstand the pressure of Juventus already in the first half, conceding four times. In the second half, Al Ain scored a goal that was cancelled due to offside, but almost immediately conceded a fifth goal - 0:5. Before the upcoming meeting, we should not forget that Al Ain is made up of professional players and is a team far from poor. They will not go into the meeting with Manchester City as losers in advance. Moreover, the most terrible thing has already happened to the Emirati team - they were defeated in the opening game of the tournament. Considering that the nominal guests can't even dream of standing in defence against Manchester City, the Al Ain coaching staff will probably build a model of the game, in which their players will try to run into counterattacks. We bet that the match will not be boring, and the rivals will score at least three goals.