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As we know, a lot of Manchester City's woes last season stemmed from Rodri's long-term absence with an ACL injury.

The Ballon d'Or winners impact and talent has been missed by Pep Guardiola, his teammates and the fans, but the good news is that he is on his way back.

The Club World Cup has been criticised for adding to the players' already busy schedules, but it will provide Rodri with the opportunity to increase his game time as we approach the start of the new season.

The Spain international replaced Nico Gonzalez with just over an hour on the clock against Al Ain and played 30 minutes in total.

"Step-by-step," said Pep Guardiola on his gradual return. "He cannot play more than 30 minutes. He still struggles a bit in the duels, still needs to be a little bit stronger, but it's normal.

"It's important he played much, much better than the previous game. We miss him a lot. Any team would miss the best player in the world."

Manchester City wave goodbye to Atlanta and say hello to what could be a thundery Orlando, Florida for their final group game aganst Juventus on Thursday. This fixture, you'll be pleased to know, is a more respectable 20:00 BST, broadcast on DAZN.

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola appeared to be a little bit disappointed at full-time that his side couldn't get a seventh goal against Al Ain which would have put them in a better position of topping Group G.

"We pushed and pushed to score another goal to try to finish first, but we missed by one goal. But yeah, we know what we need to do against the Italian team to finish as number one."

"Now we have to see whether we'll be first or second in the group.

"We played a little bit better than the first game [Wydad AC], especially in the second half."

Shamoon Hafez
BBC Sport football news reporter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta

Pep Guardiola's men backed up their opening game win over Wydad AC with a ruthless performance but will have to beat Juventus to top Group G and avoid a meeting with the winners of Real Madrid's group.

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Ilkay Gundogan only scored three goals for Manchester City last season but the 34-year-old German midfielder was on target twice against Al Ain, opening the scoring early in the first half and adding his second in the 73rd minute.

"A really good performance," was Gundogan's assessment of the game. "I think we had our moments in the first half, and then also the second part of the second half.

"I think the result speaks for itself, and in the end, fully deserved."

If you head over to Sham's match report here, you'll find a little opinion pole to get involved with. The question is simple: Should Man City keep Gundogan this season?

Also in the report, you gave player of the match Gundogan an average rating of 8.32.

Shamoon Hafez
BBC Sport football news reporter at Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta

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Both first-time starters did no harm to their prospects, especially attacking Algerian Rayan Ait-Nouri.

Signed from Wolves for £31m, he already looks accomplished down the left flank, with his darts inside and crosses into the box causing Al Ain all sorts of issues.

Argentine midfielder Echeverri was handed a surprise appearance ahead of Jack Grealish in the FA Cup final defeat by Crystal Palace last month and converted a delightful finish which will have caught the eye of boss Guardiola.

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If you stayed up/got up to watch Manchester City on Channel 5 at stupid o'clock - we salute you. If you're just waking up, it was an easy run out for Pep Guardiola's side in Atlanta as they put six past United Arab Emirates side Al Ain - three in the first half, three in second - to comfortably book a place in the last-16 of the Club World Cup.

Guardiola handed full debuts to left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri and midfielder Claudio Echeverri, while Bernardo Silva took the armband for the first time since being appointed club captain.

Ilkay Gundogan scored two goals, plus Erling Haaland, Oscar Bobb, Argentine Echeverri and new signing Rayan Cherki were also on the scoresheet. The win puts City level on six points with Juventus in the Group G.

Lorraine McKenna
BBC Sport Journalist

Hello, folks. It's an early start on this summer live page today because Manchester City, while the majority of us were still in bed, faced Al Ain in the Club World Cup.

The match was played in the air-conditioned Mercedes-Benz Stadium in Atlanta, Georgia, so the hot conditions are not a main talking point this morning like they have been for other games so far. We will chat about the weather forecast, though, as a heatwave is expected this week.

As for transfers, which club wants to provide us with a good line on this rather grey Monday? Benjamin Sesko, Jamie Gittens and Jadon Sancho are top of the gossip column, so let's see how the day unfolds.