Manchester City take on the visitors Al Ain in the round 2 match of FIFA Club World Cup. The match will be played on Monday, June 23rd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium (Atlanta, GA).
Manchester City arrived at the tournament with a revamped squad. The Citizens have never shied away from spending record-breaking sums on players. Yet, surprisingly, last year they limited their transfer activity to bringing back Ilkay Gündogan and signing Savio from sister club Girona. They even failed to replace Julian Alvarez after his departure, which became painfully evident when Rodri picked up a long-term injury — triggering a dramatic mid-season slump. In January, the club responded by spending over €200 million, which helped them salvage a 3rd-place finish in the Premier League. However, they barely scraped through the Champions League group stage and were promptly eliminated by an inconsistent Real Madrid side in the first knockout round. To make matters worse, they lost the FA Cup final to Crystal Palace. Unsurprisingly, the club has started reinforcing early this summer, signing talents like Rayan Cherki, Tijjani Reijnders (clearly as a long-term replacement for Kevin De Bruyne), and Rayan Aït-Nouri. In their Club World Cup opener against Wydad, Phil Foden and co. sealed the deal in the first half, cruising to a 2-0 win.
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Al Ain remain one of the most successful clubs in the United Arab Emirates, having claimed their 14th league title in 2022. But since then, they’ve failed to return to the top, even after appointing Vladimir Ivić as head coach. While there was some late-season improvement under the Serbian, it only took them as high as 5th place in the domestic league. Their continental form has been even more disappointing — despite winning the 2024 AFC Champions League, their title defense collapsed completely, recording just two draws and six defeats, crashing out in the group stage. At the Club World Cup, they opened their campaign with a dismal 0-5 loss to Juventus, showing virtually nothing in response. It’s clear this side is well below elite level.
These two sides met once in a friendly back in 2014, where City secured a routine 3-0 win. The only question is: how big will City win? Back the English side to cover a -3.0 handicap.
Prediction for the match: Manchester City to win with -3.0 handicap.
