Erling Haaland All Smiles As De Bruyne Rejoin City Squad 

Erling Haaland was all smiles as he rejoined Kevin De Bruyne during Manchester City’s Club World Cup victory over Urawa Reds.

De Bruyne has been eased back into training to step up his recovery from the hamstring injury he sustained in City’s opening Premier League game of the season against Burnley. Haaland is also nursing a foot injury which will likely see him miss the entire Club World Cup. The duo has still travelled to Saudi Arabia with the rest of the squad, though, and the Norwegian is excited to finally share the dressing room again with the midfield maestro.

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Even though they were without two important players—Haaland and De Bruyne—on the pitch, City defeated Urawa Red Diamonds 3-0 to guarantee their place in the Club World Cup final. With the win, the world’s greatest team in FIFA will face Fluminense on Friday in the coveted FIFA showpiece event. After the interval, Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva added more goals to the tally after Matheus Nunes broke the tie at the end of the first half.

City will win its first-ever Club World Cup trophy if they defeat Fluminense. In addition, it would be the 12th major prize won by Pep Guardiola during his rule at Etihad Stadium, which started in 2016.

Guardiola will have to rely on players like Julian Alvarez and Bernardo for goals as Haaland and De Bruyne will be absent from Friday’s championship game. Haaland’s availability for the Premier League match against Everton on December 27 is still unknown, but De Bruyne will undoubtedly miss it as well.