Manchester City claimed the Club World Cup title earlier today, beating Fluminese 4-0 in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. During the second half of the trophy clash, superstar central midfielder Rodri was forced off due to injury.
It doesn’t look to be too serious however, as Rodri was able to join in with the rest of his mates for the silverware celebration after the match.
Manchester City at Everton FC FYIs
Kickoff: Wed. Dec 27, 8:15pm GMT, Goodison Park
Google Probability: Man City Win 60% Draw 23% Everton Win 17%
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Fun Fact: With the CWC, Pep Guardiola, as Man City manager, has now won every trophy available.
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PL Form: Man City DWLDD Everton WWWWL
PL Standing: Man City 4th, 34 pts, Everton 16th, 16 pts
Man City Team News
“I didn’t speak [to the doctors],” said City manager Pep Guardiola after the match.
“It looks from his face it’s good. It was a scare, the action was really tough. We’ll see in the next days how he reacts.”
Let’s put him in the category of “strong doubt” for the Wednesday clash at Everton. And it almost goes without saying that Rodri is the player that City can least afford to lose. The team’s record with him, versus without him, speaks for itself.
Kevin de Bruyn has returned to full training, but he did not make the matchday squad for either of the two Club World Club clashes. Neither did Erling Haaland, but the big Norwegian scoring machine did make the trip to the Arabian peninsula.
I guess we’ll just have to wait and see if either is fully match fit enough to be selected for the match day squad.
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now, while writing for the International Baseball Writers Association of America. You can follow the website on Twitter.