Manchester City defeated Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0 on Tuesday evening to book their spot in the FIFA Club World Cup final.
There was no recognised striker in the City starting line-up, as Julian Alvarez started on the bench after the team's disappointing draw against Crystal Palace on Saturday.
Urawa intended to get going from the start and forced Kyle Walker to make a telling clearance following a smart run-up from their influential figure Ken Iwao.
Rodri pushed the Asian side to the edge when he ran in from a tight angle to carve out space and fire wide of the mark as the match looked to open up.
The Spaniard went close again before the half-hour mark with a half-volley after bringing down Phil Foden’s on the chest, but he yet again failed to find target.
City did go ahead on the stroke of halftime when Marius Hoibraten turned into his own net whilst aiming to cut out Bernardo Silva’s delivery across the face of goal.
Mateo Kovacic extended the lead seven minutes from the break when he burst through the area to fire into the roof of the net for his first goal for the club.
Red Diamonds were breached again five minutes later as a fierce shot from Matheus Nunes proved too much for Shinji Nishikawa and left Silva to fire home from the edge of the area.
A trio of substitutes from the European champions followed at the midway point in the second half, as Alvarez, Josko Gvardiol and Oscar Bobb came on to replace Silva, Foden and Manuel Akanji.
Urawa got a huge chance to reduce the tally late on through Shoya Nakajima following a loose ball, but goalkeeper Ederson was quick off his line to deny the attacker.
The Citizens contained the final few minutes to grab a comprehensive victory and will meet Brazil’s Fluminense in the final on Friday night.
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