Haaland starts as City make three changes for Al-Hilal clash | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has made three changes to his City side for tonight's FIFA Club World Cup Round of 16 clash with Al-Hilal at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando.

Josko Gvardiol, Ilkay Gundogan and Erling Haaland all come in to the side that beat Juventus in the final group game last Thursday.

Manuel Akanji, Rodri and Omar Marmoush drop to the bench.

A quarter-final clash with Fluminense back at the Camping World Stadium on Friday 4 July awaits the winner.

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City arrive at this stage with the competition's only 100% record, having won all three matches in Group G.

Meanwhile, Al-Hilal are in the Round of 16 after a runners-up finish in Group H following two draws and a victory.

As with every match at the FIFA Club World Cup, you can watch it live and free around the world on DAZN. All you need to do is register for a free account!

Teams

CITY XI: Ederson, Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, Ait-Nouri, Gundogan, Reijnders, Bernardo (C), Savinho, Doku, Haaland

Subs: Bettinelli, Ortega, Stones, Ake, Marmoush, Nico, Rodri, Reis, Akanji, Cherki, Khusanov, Foden, Bobb, O'Reilly

AL-HILAL XI: Bono, Cancelo, Koulibaly, Moteb, Lodi, Neves, Dawsari, Kanno, Malcom, Milinkovic-Savic, Leonardo

Subs: Khalifah, Abdulayhi, Alghannam, Y. Shahrani, Alqahtani, Musab, Kaio, Hadhood, Lajami, Hamad, Alyami, Ahmed

WATCH: FIFA Club World Cup: City's journey through the group stage

Tactics

A back four of Matheus Nunes, Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol and Rayan Ait-Nouri will protect Ederson's goal.

Ahead of them, we can expect to see Ilkay Gundogan, Tijjani Reijnders and Bernardo Silva operating at the heart of midfield.

Savinho will be out on the right wing and Jeremy Doku on the left, either side of central striker Erling Haaland.

Building on our form

While our group stage performance now counts for nothing in these straight knockout ties, it was mightily impressive nonetheless.

We were the only side in the whole competition to win all three matches at that stage, qualifying from a group that included Italian giants Juventus with flying colours.

WATCH: Highlights: Juventus 2-5 City

Our 13 goals was more than anyone else scored in their first three games in the US this summer, while we also recorded the most shots (60) and the highest expected goals tally (9.9).

It wasn’t just about the starting XI, with our four goals from substitutes being the most of any team in the group stage.

Pep Guardiola loves this competition – whether in this format or the previous iteration.

He has a 100% record in the FIFA Club World Cup, winning all 11 games and outscoring opponents 38-4 in those matches, including 13-2 in this year’s competition.

His sides have won 10 of those 11 matches by a margin of at least two goals.

KidSuper kit

It’s a second run out for the special edition KidSuper kit that will be worn for just this tournament.

We’ll be hoping an equally special performance as its debut, when we smashed Abu Dhabi-based side Al Ain 6-0 in Atlanta.

BUY THE SPECIAL EDITION KIT HERE

The shirt itself is a throwback to a much loved away top in the 2009/10 season during a particularly exciting period for City fans.

You can still get yours at City stores and online!

WATCH: The classic is back: PUMA and KidSuper launch new Manchester City special edition kit

Match stats

•    The only previous meeting between an English side and a Saudi Arabian side in the FIFA Club World Cup (including previous formats) was a 1-0 victory for Chelsea over Al-Hilal in the 2021 semi-final (played in February 2022).•    This will be the fifth meeting between Al-Hilal and a European side in the FIFA Club World Cup (including previous formats) with the Saudi team avoiding defeat in each of their two matches against European sides in this tournament (vs. Real Madrid and FC RB Salzburg) after losing their previous two beforehand.•    In the group stage of this year’s FIFA Club World Cup, Manchester City scored more goals (13) than any other side, while we also recorded the most shots (60) and the highest expected goals tally (9.9).•    Pep Guardiola has a 100% record in the FIFA Club World Cup (W11 D0 L0, including previous formats), outscoring opponents 38-4 in those matches, including 13-2 in this year’s competition. Guardiola’s sides have won 10 of those 11 matches by a margin of at least two goals.•    Al-Hilal (W1 D2) were one of three teams from outside of Europe and South America to avoid defeat in all three group stage matches at this year’s FIFA Club World Cup (also Inter Miami and Monterrey, both from Concacaf).•    Al-Hilal have kept clean sheets in their last two group stage matches at the FIFA Club World Cup (0-0 vs. FC RB Salzburg, 2-0 vs. Pachuca) after having conceded in nine straight games in the competition (including previous formats), with their only prior shutout coming in their first Club World Cup match in 2019.•    Two substitutes scored for Manchester City in both of our last two FIFA Club World Cup matches, with Erling Haaland and Phil Foden doing so against Juventus. Manchester City’s four goals from substitutes were the most of any team in the group stage of this year’s FIFA Club World Cup.•    Despite only playing 125 of a possible 270 minutes in the group stage, Rodri has made more line-breaking passes (25) than any other Manchester City player at this FIFA Club World Cup. He is averaging 18 line-breaking passes per 90 minutes, with only three players topping that in the group stage (100+ mins played).•    Salem Al Dawsari and Marcos Leonardo scored Al-Hilal’s two goals in their win over Pachuca. Al Dawsari (26 goals) and Marcos Leonardo (25 goals) are two of the club’s top three scorers since the beginning of the 2024-25 season.•    Kalidou Koulibaly and Sergej Milinkovic-Savic both won seven aerial duels against Pachuca. Only four other players won 7+ aerial duels in a match in the entire group stage of this year’s FIFA Club World Cup.