Manchester City have secured their place in Friday’s Club World Cup final, after beating Urawa Red Diamonds.
City managed to get the job done in Jeddah, winning 3-0.
City absolutely dominated the ball as was expected to be the case. But Urawa, to their credit, defended well and worked really hard.
Just before half-time though, Matheus Nunes forced an own goal and that gave City the platform to go on hunt more goals.
City scored a second through Mateo Kovacic after a great through ball by Kyle Walker.
Nunes was then involved in the third goal, break forward and working the goalkeeper before Bernardo Silva turned the ball in via a deflection.
It was important for City to get back to winning ways after the disappointing draw with Crystal Palace at the weekend – and it was a good night for Matheus Nunes…
Robbie Savage praises Matheus Nunes during win over Urawa Red Diamonds
Nunes was handed a start tonight as an attacking midfielder – and it was a role he looked pretty good in.
He occasionally pulled out to the right, but he largely occupied positions just in front of the Urawa defence.
The Urawa players struggled to keep tabs on the Portuguese maestro, whose pace and drive caused problems.
In the 54th minute, Savage said of Nunes on TNT Sports: “Against Red Star, he played really well. He’s played really well tonight. He just offers something different to City, running from deep.”
A good night for Nunes
It was good to see Nunes making a solid impression tonight against Urawa and it does seem as though he is growing into this City team now.
£130,000-a-week star Nunes has had a fairly mediocre start at the Etihad, but that has probably been because he is still learning the ways of the team.
You can tell he is a top player, who could genuinely become world-class.
At the moment, he is sometimes taking too many touches and not releasing the ball as quickly as he could in some instances.
But as Savage said on commentary tonight, he just gives something different. That world-class ball-carrying ability is going to be brilliant to watch, and he will be some player if he can add goals and assists to his game.
