Although the big teams in Europe's top five leagues did not play a Champions League game this week, they still have to deal with the challenge of two games in a week. In this matchday, a number of big teams had good performances. Manchester City were playing in the Club World Cup for the first time and they put in an impressive performance against Asian champions Urawa Red Diamonds, winning 3-0 to advance to the final. Chelsea, meanwhile, suffered a penalty shoot-out in the English League Cup and eventually avenged Newcastle United 5-3 to progress to the last four. In La Liga, Atletico failed to hold the lead until the end with a ten-man affair and ended a 3-3 draw with Getafe, ending their opponent's 20-game winning streak at home. Last season's European champions Manchester City and Asian champions Urawa Red Diamonds met in the semi-finals of the Club World Cup, and although both teams were continental champions, there was a huge gap in quality. Pep Guardiola's bold change of formation and lack of rotation of multiple key players is also the reason why Manchester City were able to dominate the game.
Manchester City had 74 per cent possession and created 24 shots on goal throughout the game, while Urawa Red Diamonds managed just one shot on target. City were under siege from the start of the game, and despite Urawa Red Diamonds' first-half strategy of swinging the bus to put City in a scoreless situation, City managed to make a couple of threatening attacks before breaking the deadlock in stoppage time. In the second half, Urawa Red Diamonds' three lines of forward movement gave City more space to attack, and in the end, Kovacic and Bernardo Silva scored twice in eight minutes to help Manchester City reach the Club World Cup final for the first time with a score of 3-0. The other big clash is Chelsea's English League Cup tie against Newcastle United. Newcastle United met again with a 4-1 win over Chelsea in the first leg of the season, with Pochettino looking for revenge at home. However, mistakes by four Chelsea players in the first half gave Newcastle an early 1-0 lead.
Chelsea beat Newcastle United 5-3 in the Premier League to progress to the quarter-finals of the English League Cup. Chelsea made their debut in the second half for new striker Nkunku, who had just spent £60 million. Although he was unable to change the tide of the game, Kieran Trippier provided an own goal in stoppage time to set up Mykhailo Mudryk's equaliser. The game went to penalties and Kieran Trippier made another mistake in the second round, but Chelsea won 5-3 to get revenge on Newcastle United and progress to the last four of the English League Cup. The other game is La Liga, where Atletico Madrid drew 3-3 at home to Getafe. Despite an early dismissal from one of their players, they took a 3-1 lead thanks to Antoine Griezmann's brace and Alvaro Morata's goal.
However, the numerical advantage did not allow Atletico Madrid to win comfortably late in the game, as Getafe scored a goal in the 87th minute through Oscar and a penalty from Riquelme in stoppage time to make it 3-3 and end Atletico Madrid's home winning streak to 20 games.