How Manchester City beat Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0 in Club World Cup semi-final

As last season was Manchester City's first time winning the UEFA Champions League, this is their first appearance in the FIFA Club World Cup. The same is not true for Urawa Red Diamonds, who are making their third appearance in the tournament.

In the 2017 edition of the Club World Cup, Urawa Red Diamonds placed fifth after losing their opening game against the host club from the United Arab Emirates.

They fared better in the 2007 edition, taking third place. They began with a 3-1 win over Iranian side Sepahan before falling 1-0 to AC Milan in the semi-finals (pictured above). They secured the bronze medal with a win on penalties over Africa's champions from Tunisia, Etoile du Sahel.

Man City starting line-up: Ederson, Walker, Stones, Akanji, Ake, Rodri, Kovacic, Nunes, Bernardo, Grealish, Foden

Urawa Red Diamonds, informally referred to as Urawa Reds, are a Japanese club based in Saitama, which is part of the Greater Tokyo Area. The team play in the J1 League, the top level of the Japan Professional Football League. The "Red Diamonds" name comes from the club's former parent company Mitsubishi, whose logo consists of three red diamonds.

The club have won the top-flight division in Japan five times, most recently in 2006. The other four times came under the previous name of Mitsubishi Motors. Urawa Reds have also now won the AFC Champions League three times: 2007, 2017 and 2022.

As you can see above, teams enter this tournament at different stages.

The first round began with the host club Al Ittihad beating the Oceania champions Auckland City 3-0. The second round saw the introduction of African champions Al Ahly, who beat Al Ittihad 3-1, as well as North American champions Leon and Asian champions Urawa Red Diamonds.

Urawa's 1-0 victory gave them a spot in today's semi-final against Manchester City, who are playing their first match of the tournament. The first semi-final, which took place yesterday, saw South American champions Fluminense top Al Ahly 2-0 in their first match to book a place in Friday's final.

Here are the seven teams that qualified for the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup:

• Manchester City (England), winners of the 2022-23 UEFA Champions League
• Fluminense (Brazil), winners of the 2023 Copa Libertadores
• Urawa Red Diamonds (Japan), winners of the 2022 AFC Champions League
• Al Ahly (Egypt), winners of the 2022–23 CAF Champions League
• Leon (Mexico), winners of the 2023 CONCACAF Champions League
• Auckland City (New Zealand), winners of the 2023 OFC Champions League
• Al Ittihad (Saudi Arabia), hosts by virtue of winning the 2022–23 Saudi Pro League

Urawa Reds starting line-up: Nishikawa, Sekine, Scholz, Hoibraten, Akimoto, Ito, Iwao, Okubo, Yasui, Koizumi, Martinez

Manchester City have arrived at King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah and Erling Haaland's hair is looking resplendent as usual.

Today's setting is King Abdullah Sports City, the 2023 Club World Cup's main venue. It is hosting five of the tournament's seven matches, with the other two taking place at the smaller Prince Abdullah Al-Faisal Sports City.

King Abdullah Sports City

• Also known as: The Jewel
• Opened: 2014
• Capacity: 62,345
• Tenants: Al Ittihad, Al Ahli, Saudi Arabia national football team
• Notable match: Brazil beat Argentina 1-0 in an international friendly in 2018

Europe has unsurprisingly dominated this competition. The reiging UEFA Champions League winners have failed to win only one title since 2007, coming when Chelsea lost to Brazilian side Corinthians 1-0 in the 2012 final.

Taking a broader view, here's a look at how each continent has fared historically in this tournament:

• Europe: 15 titles, 3 runners-up
• South America: 4 titles, 10 runners-up, 5 third places
• Asia: 3 runners-up, 5 third places
• Africa: 2 runners-up, 3 third places
• North America: 1 runner-up, 5 third place
• Oceania: 1 third place

Eleven teams have won the Club World Cup across its 19 completed editions, four of which have done so multiple times:

• Real Madrid: 5 times (2014, 2016-18, 2022)
• Barcelona: 3 times (2009, 2011, 2015)
• Bayern Munich: 2 times (2013, 2020)
• Corinthians: 2 times (2000, 2012)

FIFA's Club World Cup is a seven-team tournament (for now) that involves the six continental champions from the previous season as well as one host club.

In inviting last season's champions, it's similar to an event like the UEFA Super Cup, which pits the defending Champions League and Europa League winners against one another. And in inviting the champions of each continent, it's similar to the defunct FIFA Confederations Cup, which was contested by the national teams that won the Euros, the Copa America, and so on.

The tournament began in 2000, this is its 20th edition. It's set for some massive changes the next time it's held in 2025 in the United States, more on that later in our coverage.

Urawa Red Diamonds' victory in their first Club World Cup match was somewhat pyrrhic, as they lost three players to injury during the second half: left-back Takahiro Akimoto, right-back Takahiro Sekine and winger Tomoaki Okubo.

Match-winner Alex Schalk replaced Okubo in that match and can be expected to do so again in today's starting line-up, while Hiroki Sakai may replace Sekine.

Urawa Red Diamonds faced Mexican side Leon, winners of the CONCACAF Champions League, in their first match at the Club World Cup on Friday.

Scoreless at half-time, the deadlock was broken in the 78th minute by Urawa Reds' Dutch winger Alex Schalk (centre, above), who had come on as a substitute only five minutes earlier. Leon were reduced to 10 men shortly thereafter when William Tesillo was shown a second yellow card, helping Urawa Reds see out the 1-0 win.

Urawa Reds held Leon to just one shot on target from nine attempts.

Judging by Rodri’s demeanour as he left the Etihad Stadium on Saturday evening, the Manchester City flight to Saudi Arabia would not have been much fun.

He was the only one of the City players to leave via the interview area but looked so distraught that he could barely even find the words to say that he would not be speaking.

The other City players had left through the back door to take a bus over to the training ground for a meal with their families before flying off immediately to the Club World Cup.

After yet another performance where they did enough to win but did not, they will be deflated.