Manchester City clinched top spot in Group G at the Club World Cup as they crushed Juventus 5-2.
Both sides were already sure of progression to the last 16 going into Thursday’s clash, but it was City who were far superior in Florida.
Midfielder Rodri made his first start since suffering a knee ligament injury in September, and his influence was clear as City took the lead through Jeremy Doku in the ninth minute, with Pierre Kalulu’s own goal restoring their advantage after Teun Koopmeiners had pounced on an Ederson error to level.
City took complete control in the second half as Erling Haaland netted his 300th career goal before Phil Foden put the game beyond doubt with a tap-in.
The final flourish for City was added by a stunning individual strike from Savinho, with Dusan Vlahovic’s reply mere consolation for Juve, who now likely face a last-16 clash with Real Madrid after being left to settle for second in the group. City are the only team in the competition to go through with a 100 percent record.
Juventus v Manchester City
City did not take long to get on the front foot and only a fine save with his feet from Michele Di Gregorio prevented Bernardo Silva from opening the scoring with a header.
But Di Gregorio was helpless as Doku gave City the advantage, cutting onto his right foot and sweeping into the bottom-right corner after being found with a clever pass from Rayan Ait-Nouri.
However, City’s lead lasted just two minutes, as they surrendered it with a self-inflicted wound. Ederson’s pass out from the back was wayward and went straight to Koopmeiners, who surged into the box and slotted home through the Brazilian’s legs.
Yet that mistake was topped by a more egregious one in the 26th minute from Kalulu, who inadvertently restored City’s lead when he turned Matheus Nunes’ low right-wing cross into his own net.
City continued in the ascendancy in the first half thereafter, Ait-Nouri testing Di Gregorio with a volley into the ground and Omar Marmoush firing narrowly wide from long range as the punishing Orlando heat was replaced by heavy rain.
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Haaland was brought on for Marmoush to start the second half and, despite failing to find his feet quick enough to meet Nunes’ cross in stride, he was still able to bundle the ball home at the end of a 52nd-minute move that saw the Portuguese played in down the right by Tijjani Reijnders.
Matters got worse for Juve when defender Nicolo Savona was forced off following a collision with Haaland. Dusan Vlahovic was then denied by an onrushing Ederson, whose long ball soon after set led to City’s fourth in the 69th minute.
Haaland controlled it brilliantly and his pass into the box eventually found Savinho, who had the simple task of laying off for Foden to tap in with the Juve defence conspicuous by its absence.
Savinho produced a more spectacular contribution six minutes later, curling a long-range effort in off the crossbar moments after Di Gregorio had denied Haaland.
Vlahovic had the final say six minutes from the end of normal time, firing in after being played through by Kenan Yildiz, though Rayan Cherki should have added a sixth for City in injury time, with his stoppage-time effort too close to Di Gregorio.
