Manchester City vs. Fluminense Prediction on December 22, 2023

Match info

On Friday night (December 22 at 9 p.m. local time) in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, the UEFA Champions League winners Manchester City F.C. and Copa Libertadores winners Fluminense FC will play for the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup title. In their inaugural world championship for clubs, the English side has advanced to the championship game. For the Brazilians, it’s their first-ever final, despite not being their first time competing in the tournament which launched in 2000. The encounter will be played at the King Abdullah Sports City (nicknamed “The Shining Jewel“) stadium.

Meeting statistics

The current form of Manchester City

The semi-final match of Manchester City (also their inaugural match) in this competition earlier this week went just as planned for the team. Following a two-goal deficit in last weekend’s Premier League tie against Crystal Palace, the reaction was required from “The Citizens“. The first half of the match between the English team and the Japanese Urawa Red Diamonds (the AFC representative) appeared to be a draw until Marius Høibråten’s own goal gave the English side the lead shortly before halftime. In the second half, goals by Mateo Kovačić and Bernardo Silva put the score at 3-0. After an unusual stumble in the domestic league, City showed they hadn’t missed the absent Erling Haaland as they easily defeated their Japanese opponents to get to the final of their first-ever Club World Cup.

Despite traveling to the Middle East with their teammates, the injured trio of Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne, and Jérémy Doku didn’t play against Urawa. De Bruyne even made an unexpected appearance in training on Monday after missing all of the season’s games due to hamstring surgery. The UK media claim that all three players had been taken off of City’s squad for the Club World Cup prior to the semifinal, which means they won’t be able to play Fluminense in the championship match.

The current form of Fluminense

Following some lackluster results in the Brazilian top division, Fluminense also entered their own semi-final matchup against Egypt’s Al Ahly. Even though they lost their previous two home league games and gave up four goals overall, Fernando Diniz’s team will be confident going into their match against Manchester City on Friday, especially following their performance against the African champions. Ultimately, the “Tricolor“ is the current South American champion, i.e. the champions of the Copa Libertadores, regarded as the world’s second-best international club competition, only surpassed by the Champions League.

Due to a cruciate ligament injury, defender Jorge hasn’t played for Fluminense this season. Head coach Diniz will be without him once more. The line-up that defeated Al Ahly in the semifinals isn’t anticipated to suffer many changes, albeit John Kennedy, who scored the game’s second goal after substituting in, will be definitely vying for a starting position.

Match analytics

Despite being huge underdogs according to bookmakers offering interesting promotional offers in the form of deposit bonuses, given they had a disappointing season in Japan, Urawa were outclassed by City easier than expected. In this tournament, Pep Guardiola’s squad may have found their winning formula again following a challenging home stretch by their typically high standards. Even though Fluminense should be a far more difficult test in Friday’s Europe vs. South America final, we still believe “The Citizens“ will perform admirably, even if Haaland is sidelined once more.

We’ll propose wagering on Man City to win by a two-goal margin with odds of 3.85 on PSK.

Results of the forecast

Successful forecast. Manchester City vs. Fluminense 4:0