Juventus 2-5 Man City: Cityzens rout Old Lady in 7-goal game as Haaland & co net

Manchester City secured top spot in Group G by beating Juventus 5-2 on Matchday 3 of the FIFA Club World Cup group stage, their first win against the Old Lady since 1976.

Match Report

Much has been made of Pep Guardiola’s squad rotation at this tournament, and although he once again made wholesale changes, his side showed no signs of being unfamiliar with each other.

Not even 10 minutes were on the clock when their early pressure told, as new signing Rayan Ait Nouri threaded an inch-perfect pass through for Jeremy Doku, who stepped inside and found the far corner.

Their joy was short-lived lived though, and City only had themselves to blame, as Ederson’s loose pass was pounced upon by Teun Koopmeiners, who strode forward and drilled an effort beneath the Brazilian. 

If Juve’s equaliser was a gift, then the goal that put City back ahead was nothing short of comical.

There appeared to be no danger when Matheus Nunes drilled the ball across the face of the goal, but with no City players around him, Pierre Kalulu incredibly turned the ball into the back of his own net.

As the heavens opened in Orlando before half-time, City were raining efforts on the Juve goal too, and both Omar Marmoush and Ait Nouri forced Michele Di Gregorio into fine saves before the break.

The Juve stopper was powerless to prevent City from doubling their advantage after the restart, though.

Nunes was incredibly unselfish in the build-up, arrowing in from the right before laying the ball on a plate for substitute Erling Haaland to stroke into an empty net.

It was always likely to be a tall order for Juve to get back into the game, but they spurned a great chance when Dusan Vlahovic failed to round Ederson when one-on-one with the Brazilian.

His misery was compounded seconds later as Savinho teed Phil Foden up following a long ball forward to put the game to bed. 

There was no simplicity about City’s fifth goal, with Savinho netting the pick of the bunch as he powered home an effort off the underside of the bar from 20 yards.

Vlahovic did snatch a late consolation for Juventus in the final 10 minutes, but it was never going to be enough to secure them the point they needed to top the group.

That means they’ll now face the winners of Group H, which is likely to be Real Madrid, while City will face the runners-up and have the perceived advantage of remaining in Orlando for the last 16.

Line-ups

Juventus XI: Kostic, Locatelli, Koopmeiners, Vlahovic, Di Gregorio, N. Gonzalez, Lloyd Kelly, McKennie, Kalulu, Nicolò Savona, Alberto Costa

Subs: Pinsoglio, Rugani, Milik, Douglas Luiz, Gleison, Muani, Khéphren Thuram, Francisco Conceição, Andrea Cambiaso, Giovanni Garofani, Gatti, Giovanni Daffara, Rouhi, Yıldız, Adzic

Man City XI: Ederson, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, Akanji, Rodri, Omar Marmoush, Reijnders, Rayan Aït-Nouri, Matheus Nunes, Doku, Savinho

Subs: Gundogan, Ortega, Ake, Stones, Bettinelli, Haaland, Foden, Nico González, Cherki, Gvardiol, Bobb, Nico O'Reilly, Abdukodir Khusanov, Vitor Reis