Man City Q&A: Pep to go strong at Club World Cup?

Through Tuesday, and before Manchester City's opening Club World Cup match on Wednesday, we are putting your questions to our football news reporter Shamoon Hafez.

Here are some of his answers on how strong Pep Guardiola might go in the tournament:

Mark asked: Is this a watered down competition? I cannot imagine Pep playing a strong team, never mind a 'first 11' pick. However, it is an ideal opportunity to blood new signings and some fringe players. How many subs per match? And how many matches could we end up playing?

Shamoon: Thanks for the question, Mark, but sorry to say I am going to have to absolutely disagree with you on this one.

City have spent over £100m to bolster their squad for this competition and have left the youth team players at home. They mean serious business here in America and it will be interesting to see whether Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Cherki and Rayan Ait-Nouri will be thrown straight in on Wednesday.

If you saw the interview chairman Khaldoon Al-Mubarak gave at the end of the season, he made it clear City were travelling stateside to win – if that is the main man's view, boss Guardiola and his players will be under no illusions at the task in hand.

As with Premier League games, you can name up to nine substitutes and five changes can be made. A run to the final will mean City playing a total of seven matches.

Danso asked: Is Rodri likely to play in the tournament?

Shamoon: Journalists who have travelled over have been fortunate to be invited to City's training base in Boca Raton in Florida.

I was quite close up to Rodri the other day and he looks in incredible shape - his biceps were bulging out from his vest and he looked in good spirits. Some of the passes he was knocking around were a delight to see.

When I spoke to club sources a couple of months ago, the target was for him to return to action during the Club World Cup. They were always building up to that.

Instead, the Spaniard was back earlier than expected, playing in the final home game of the season against Bournemouth.

To me, Rodri looks fit and if I was picking the team on Wednesday, I would give him an hour against a Wydad AC side City are heavy favourites to beat.

Check back later for the final part of the Q&A.