City shine in Diamond test for a shot at world title in Saudi Arabia

SAUDI Arabia will fitness two world title fights this weekend.

- TYRONE MARSHALL

In Riyadh, the country's grip on the boxing world will continue with a showstopping card of heavyweight contests on Saturday night.

Twenty-four hours earlier, in Jeddah, the champions of the football world will be crowned. In the blue corner, City.

This is a club that hasn't always fallen into the heavyweight bracket. In fact, for a long time, it did its best to steer clear of it. They might still be catching the behemoths of Barcelona and Real Madrid, and maybe even United on the global stage, but the balance of power is shifting.

The stars are on show here and you only had to listen to the sound that greeted a glimpse of Erling Haaland during a slow burn of a win against Urawa Red Diamonds for evidence of that

Haaland was sitting in the stands but the A-list names on the pitch did the job against the J-League side and Asian champions, exerting a stranglehold on the game throughout and cruising to a 3-0 win that was a semi-final in name only.

It booked a place in Friday's final back at the King Abdullah Sport City Stadium.

Perhaps fittingly for a club that has tasted the extremes, City's ascension to the world stage came 25 years to the day since they hit rock bottom. A 2-1 defeat at York's ramshackle Bootham Crescent on December 19, 1998, left them 12th in the third tier. It's the lowest point, by league position, of this club's history. It's been quite a journey since.

Not many fans from Manchester had the time, finance or inclination to travel to Saudi Arabia a week before Christmas, but some of the die-hards might have ticked off York and Jeddah. Bookends in a story for one night. From laughing stock to the brink of the best club side in the world.