Three Manchester City players are unable to play in the Club World Cup final due to a bizarre FIFA rule.
City cruised into Sunday’s final following a 3-0 win over Japanese side Urawa Red Diamonds in Jeddah on Wednesday.
Marius Hoibraten put through his own net to open the scoring in first half stoppage time before Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva struck in the second to seal a routine win.
The treble-winners will take on Brazilian side and Copa Libertadores champions Fluminense in Friday’s final as they look to be add another trophy to their collection.
Injured City trio Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland and Jeremy Doku all watched the triumph from the stands at King Abdullah Sports City.
But they are banned from featuring in the final because FIFA regulations stipulate that if a player is not selected in the matchday squad for the semi-final, they cannot play the next game.
It’s unlikely that any of the three would have been risked anyway but the option is not available to Pep Guardiola, who cannot even name them on the bench.
All 23 players picked in the semi-final must remain, with youngsters Max Alleyne, Mahamadou Susoho and Micah Hamilton replacing the aforementioned trident.
De Bruyne has just returned to training following a lengthy lay-off on a persistent hamstring problem which required surgery.
Haaland missed three games with a stress fracture on his foot and recently travelled to Spain to have the issue looked at by John Haddad, biomechanics expert known as ‘Mr Fix’.
Summer signing Doku is still struggling with a muscle problem.
“Kevin started training yesterday and [on Wednesday] he will train with us,” Guardiola told reporters beforehand.
“[He has been out for] four months. He is getting better. Erling still cannot train.”
City’s next league game is against Everton at Goodison Park on December 27.
Leave a Reply