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Club World Cup Final: Man City v Fluminense - what the stats say

football20 December 2023 16:50| © SuperSport
By:Clyde Tlou
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Phil Foden © Getty Images

- This will be Manchester City’s first competitive match against a Brazilian team, and Fluminense’s first competitive match against an English team.

- This is the 20th edition of the Fifa Club World Cup, with the previous 19 all being won by sides from Europe (15) or South America (4). Each of the last 10 editions have been won by a European club.

- Manchester City and Fluminense are both looking to become first-time winners of the Fifa Club World Cup; England and Brazil are currently tied for most different winners of the competition, with Manchester United (2008), Liverpool (2019) and Chelsea (2021) being the previous English winners, and Corinthians (2000, 2012), São Paulo (2005) and Internacional (2006) the previous Brazilian winners.

- English clubs have a record of 10 wins, one draw and three defeats at the Fifa Club World Cup, with all three defeats coming against Brazilian teams – Manchester United 1-3 Vasco da Gama in 2000, Liverpool 0-1 São Paulo in 2005, and Chelsea 0-1 Corinthians in 2012.

- Since Chelsea lost against Corinthians in the 2012 final, European clubs have won each of their last 21 matches at the Fifa Club World Cup, scoring 54 goals while conceding 11 in return.

- Brazilian clubs have been runners-up at the Fifa Club World Cup more often than sides from any other nation (5), ahead of Argentina (4). Indeed, they have lost each of their last three finals in the competition – Grêmio 0-1 Real Madrid in 2017, Flamengo 0-1 Liverpool in 2019, and Palmeiras 1-2 Chelsea in 2022.

- Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola could win the Fifa Club World Cup for a record fourth time, having previously done so with Barcelona (2009, 2011) and Bayern Munich (2013); he is currently tied with Carlo Ancelotti. Guardiola has won all seven of his Fifa Club World Cup games as a manager, overseeing 21 goals scored and only two goals conceded.

- Fluminense had the highest share of possession (62 per cent), made the most successful passes (18 502) and attained the highest passing accuracy (88 per cent) of any side in the most recent Brazilian Serie A campaign, which concluded at the start of this month. As of matchday 17, Manchester City currently lead all clubs for the same metrics in the Premier League this season – 62 per cent possession, 9 748 passes completed and 90 per cent passing accuracy.

- The youngest player to score in the final of the Fifa Club World Cup is Vinícius Júnior for Real Madrid against Al-Hilal in the previous edition, aged 22 years and 214 days. Manchester City included six players in their most recent matchday squad who are young enough to surpass this record - Joško Gvardiol, Oscar Bobb, Micah Hamilton, Rico Lewis, Mahamadou Susoho and Max Alleyne.

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