City turn on style, hammer Juventus 5-2 to top Group G

Manchester City turned on the style to seal top spot in Group G at the Club World Cup with an emphatic 5-2 win over Juventus on Thursday. A positive day for City saw 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Rodri make his first start since rupturing his ACL in September and Pep Guardiola’s side, featuring several new faces, look significantly improved compared to the team which finished 13 points behind English Premier League champions Liverpool last season. Guardiola admitted as much after the match.

‘Happy to beat a top team’

“It has been a long time since we had a performance like this on and off the ball. The players were committed and we are happy to beat a top side. This is just one game, but I think the players felt again what it was like to be a good team,” said Guardiola, City took the lead in the ninth minute as winger Jeremy Doku dispatched a defence splitting pass from left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri.

Man City’s Pep Guardiola

Juventus were then gifted an equaliser when City custodian Ederson’s errant pass was intercepted by Teun Koopmeiners, who  fired home (11th min). The Italian giants returned the favour in the 26th minute when defender Pierre Kalulu turned a low cross from City right-back Matheus Nunes into his own net. 

Haaland on target

Guardiola then introduced striker Erling Haaland at the break and it took just seven minutes for him to find the scoresheet via a low cross from Nunes. It marked the Norwegian’s 300th career goal. Phil Foden scored City’s fourth in the 69th minute before Savinho made it five in injury time by lashing a thunderous shot which flew in off the underside of the bar.

Striker Dusan Vlahovic reduced the deficit for Juventus, scoring from the edge of the box. The result meant City will face Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in the Round-of-16. For Juventus it was a mauling that they will need to quickly recover from before their last 16 game against Real Madrid. “They have much stronger players than us. We played against the best team in the world. I have nothing to reproach my players for, we’ll take this blow, and move on”, said Juventus boss Igor Tudor.

Vini Jr fires Madrid to 3-0 win over Salzburg

Vinicius Junior scored one goal and crafted another with a touch of class as Real Madrid sealed their place in the last 16 of the Club World Cup with a 3-0 win over Salzburg on Thursday. The Brazil star opened the scoring after a superb defence-splitting pass by Jude Bellingham in the 40th minute. He then set up Federico Valverde for the all-important second goal in first-half stoppage time. Gonzalo Garcia wrapped up the win late on with his second goal of the tournament. They will now battle Italy’s Juventus on Tuesday for a place in the quarter-finals.

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