Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola during training in the United States this week.
In December, Real Madrid won the inaugural Intercontinental Cup. The implications for Manchester City were indirect but it does mean that, on a technicality, they enter the Club World Cup as defending champions.
An expanded competition can seem a new one: under the old format, the last final was City’s 4-0 walloping of Fluminense in Saudi Arabia.