(VIDEO) Julian Alvarez imitated Messi and showed Man City don't need Haaland

Manchester City have a great opportunity this Friday. They are facing Fluminense of Brazil in the final of the Club World Cup and, should they get a win, they will achieve the only title they are missing. Over the last decade they have dominated soccer in England, winning the Premier League and FA Cup many times, while this summer they won the Champions League. Now their goal is to become world champions.

But to do so they must beat Fluminense, and that will be no easy task. The Brazilian team are the champions of the Copa Libertadores, the South American equivalent of the Champions League, and they have stars like Marcelo, Felipe Melo, Paulo Ganso, Andre and German Cano in their squad.

And that's not all. The Citizens have problems, as some of their main players have not been able to be on the field in the final of the tournament due to physical problems, such as Kevin De Bruyne, Jeremy Doku and Erling Haaland. The latter is the one they miss the most, as he is the top scorer not only in the team, but in the world in 2023.

But Julian Alvarez proved to be a good enough replacement. The Argentine striker scored the opener for the English side 40 seconds into the match, grabbing a rebound inside the box after Nathan Ake's shot hit the post. And then they doubled the lead at 28 minutes, when Phil Foden sent a drilled cross that deflected off defender Nino and into an own goal.

He imitated Messi

Immediately after the opener, many users on social media compared Julian Alvarez's goal to a very similar one scored by Lionel Messi at Barcelona, interestingly also in a 2009 Club World Cup final against Estudiantes of Argentina. In both goals, the Argentine strikers found an unusual resource to score: their chest.