Club World Cup Pressure Cooker Rankings: Can Trent Alexander-Arnold and rebuilt Real Madrid, Lionel Messi and inconsistent Inter Miami, live up to expectations this summer?

Inter Miami has more to lose than any team not named Real Madrid. It's a simple equation, really. Miami are representing MLS - along with LAFC and Seattle Sounders - on "home" soil, and are supposed to show up for the league. If they win, and Messi shows that he can still do it, then MLS is legit. If they drop a couple of group stage games and crash out in dramatic fashion, then the league is nowhere.

Or at least that's the perception.

That's not a particularly fair state of affairs, all said. Miami are a good MLS side - comfortably the best of the three in the tournament. But they lack the overall quality to win a championship. In this case, the Messi addition is as much a blessing as it is a curse.

They haven't helped themselves much, either, making a real show of just how important this competition is to them. It's big talk, and needs to be backed up by a proper performance. There's risk to that potential reward.

Right lads, time to show you're back, eh? It was a poor season in Madrid. Their struggles are made most obvious by the fact that they failed to win a trophy. But their struggles ran far deeper than that. This was a team deeply flawed, struggling to fight on all fronts, and badly in need of a rebuild.

Well, the reinforcements have come. It starts with the manager, with Xabi Alonso stolen from Bayer Leverkusen. And then there's the defense, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Dean Huijsen brought in to add a mixture of solidity and quality at the back.

More broadly, though, this is a side that needs new tactical ideas and a real refresh. Good thing, then, that they will have had less than a week with their new manager before the tournament kicks off. Zoom out, and that's either a recipe for disaster, or platform for the Madrid voodoo to take over. They could vibe their way to a title or crash out in embarrassing fashion. Either way, it will be fascinating viewing.

The Bavarians are back! After finally ceding the Bundesliga title to Bayer Leverkusen in 2024, they returned to the summit of the division that is perennially theirs this campaign. That felt like a bare minimum for a team that boasts Harry Kane, brought in a new manager and a fair few new faces.

In the stuff that mattered, though, they faltered. Their Champions League campaign ended earlier than it should have, while an injury to Alphonso Davies dominated the headlines.

Chances are they will make it out of their group and win a knockout game. But Bayern often pitch themselves as a consistent European contender without living up to that label in full. Time to prove it.

What do you do when you lose your best player to a season-ending ACL tear in August, undergo your worst streak in nearly 10 years, and sneak into the top four far later than you should have? Spend lots, apparently. City have responded to their struggles by shelling out more than $200m in January.

In fairness, this has needed to happen for a while. City are old.

But they took some chances here. Getting rid of Kevin De Bruyne is a risky move - even if his hamstrings don't work anymore. Holding onto Bernardo Silva might be even riskier. Throwing Rodri back into the fire could prove to be the worst decision of the three.

Either way, City are at a bit of a crossroads. There remain questions about the 115 charges they face for various financial irregularities - the verdict of which is expected to be revealed at some point in the near future.

Pep Guardiola has signed a new deal, and rebuilt his backroom staff. The squad is younger. Odds are, there will be some new tactical ideas at play. What that means for the CWC remains to be seen. City are a good football team with the world's best manager at the helm. Wins are expected. But they haven't been this poor in a while, and the fans know it.

How the mighty have fallen. Less than a month ago, there was talk of a double in Milan. Inter were well-placed to juke it out with Napoli for the Scudetto, and deservedly in the Champions League final after an enthralling semifinal with Barcelona. Fast forward, and they are trophyless and struggling.

Manager Simeone Inzhagi took the money from Saudi Arabia, and left a squad of middle-aged players to sort of figure it out. They lack a manager and a transfer strategy. What seemed to be a summer set for a comeback is now one of putting out fires left and right.

There are really two ways this can go. Inter can fall back on the experienced heads and go on a decent run with dignity. Or they will collapse - hopefully not literally - in the American sun. The pressure is on for them to not crumble to bits.

It's been a mixed week for LAFC. They came back to beat Club America in an enthralling play-in match, and were eventually good value for their win against the Liga MX giants. It was their best performance in some time, Olivier Giroud and Denis Bouanga both on song for the first time in, well, ever.

But that success was rather soured by the news that expected summer signing Antoine Griezmann is staying at Atletico Madrid. LAFC were reportedly expecting him to join at some point. Now, they will have to look elsewhere.

It would be unfair to claim that the diminutive playmaker would carry them to CWC glory, but he would have certainly helped - and sold a few more shirts. Now, they're out to prove that they can do it in their current iteration. That will be a real challenge.

Al Hilal face much the same challenge as Inter Miami. They are among the best sides in their league, but are weighed down by expectations attached to their big names.

Their roster doesn't exactly read like a European all-star team circa 2018, but there are some good footballers in this side: Ruben Neves, Alex Mitrovic, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Kalidou Koulibaly, Yassine Bono. This collection of the players you sort of know but can't quite remember comes with a certain anticipation.

More broadly, though, they represent a league fighting for legitimacy on the global football scale. The Pro League has made a big deal of its penchant for spending in recent years, but there's no clear cut evidence for how good this thing it is.

Cristiano Ronaldo claimed that the SPL is better than Ligue 1 - ya' know, the division that just produced the Champions League. That was always a bit hyperbolic. But this will be a solid barometer of where things are at.