Al-Ain FC 0-5 Juventus: Conceição & Muani score braces, Yildiz on the scoresheet

Juventus swept Al Ain aside to record a 5-0 victory in their first-ever FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) match, doing so against a side who had conceded just one goal in their previous seven games.

Match Report

The Bianconeri looked bright from the very beginning and established a lead just 11 minutes into proceedings, when a lovely passage of play culminated in Randal Kolo Muani rising to head Alberto Costa’s cross past Rui Patricio.

While Al Ain had shown intent of their own, they struggled to stretch Michele Di Gregorio and conceded again when Francisco Conceicao jinked his way across the six-yard box and hit a shot that deflected in off Ramy Rabia. 

Shortly after Khéphren Thuram saw a shot blocked, the Frenchman offloaded the ball to Kenan Yildiz, who worked enough space to hit an audacious shot from range that went in off the post just after the half-hour mark.

Juventus continued to play free-flowing football with Yıldız hitting the side netting before Conceicao saw his attempt deflected behind for a corner that resulted in Lloyd Kelly heading wide. That play produced a fourth goal moments before the break when Kolo Muani raced behind to reach Thuram’s searching pass and apply a cool finish.

Al Ain showed that they would continue to compete with a marginal offside call denying Rabia a goal two minutes after the restart. Di Gregorio then had to tip Kodjo Laba’s strike over the crossbar, before Weston McKennie fired a wild attempt off-target, and Costa’s shot was blocked at the other end.

However, Juventus were back on the scoresheet in the 58th minute, as Conceição effortlessly glided inside Kouame Kouadio and beat Patrício. The debutant goalkeeper then rushed out to deny Kolo Muani a hat-trick after more scintillating play from Conceicao.

Douglas Luiz then struck wide before hitting the post, as Juventus recorded a third consecutive competitive victory for the first time since February, when they reached four wins in a row - a positive omen ahead of their contest with Wydad AC. The Bianconeri also ended Al Ain’s seven-game winning streak, and Al Zaeem’s task won’t get any easier as they face Manchester City next.

Match Events

11' GOAL! Al-Ain FC 0-1 Juventus (Randal Kolo Muani)

21' GOAL! Al-Ain FC 0-2 Juventus (Francisco Conceição)

31' GOAL! Al-Ain FC 0-3 Juventus (Kenan Yıldız)

49' GOAL! Al-Ain FC 0-4 Juventus (Randal Kolo Muani)

58' GOAL! Al-Ain FC 0-5 Juventus (Francisco Conceição)

Line-ups

Al-Ain FC XI: Patricio, Rami Rabia, Kaku, Kodjo Laba, Yong-woo Park, Soufiane Rahimi, Matías Palacios, Facundo Zabala, Kouame Autonne Kouadio, Marcel Ratnik, Abdoul Karim Traore

Subs: Khalid Eisa, Fábio Cardoso, Mohamed Awad Alla, Khalid Hashemi, Yahia Nader, Nassim Chadli, Erik, Adis Jasic, Mohammed Al-Baloushi, Mateo Sanabria, Houssine Rahimi, Yahya Benkhaleq, Josna Loulendo, Joshua Udoh, Amadou Niang

Juventus XI: Di Gregorio, Lloyd Kelly, Muani, McKennie, Khéphren Thuram, Francisco Conceição, Kalulu, Andrea Cambiaso, Nicolò Savona, Yıldız, Alberto Costa

Subs: Pinsoglio, Kostic, Rugani, Locatelli, Koopmeiners, Vlahovic, Douglas Luiz, N. Gonzalez, Timothy Weah, Giovanni Garofani, Mbangula, Gatti, Giovanni Daffara, Rouhi, Adzic