6-0 City
Gündoğan (8', 73')
Echeverri (27')
Haaland (45'+5 pen)
Bobb (84')
Cherki (89')
Ilkay Gundogan scored twice as Manchester City thrashed United Arab Emirates side Al Ain to comfortably book a place in the last-16 of the Club World Cup.
Pep Guardiola's men backed up their opening game win over Wydad AC with a ruthless performance but will have to beat Juventus to top Group G and avoid a meeting with the winners of Real Madrid's group.
City took the lead after only eight minutes courtesy of Gundogan's fortuitous strike, sending an attempted chipped cross sailing over the goalkeeper and into the back of the net, while the German delightfully dinked home in the second half.
In between, Claudio Echeverri curled in a sublime free-kick from the edge of the box on his first start and Josko Gvardiol sent a header against the post as City threatened to run riot in the opening half an hour.
City went 3-0 up before half-time courtesy of Erling Haaland's penalty after Ramy Rabia bundled over Manuel Akanji in the box - the referee awarding the spot-kick after reviewing the incident on the pitchside monitor.
Oscar Bobb came off the bench to cut inside and fire in at the near post and fellow substitute Rayan Cherki scored his first goal for the club with a low, thumping drive late on.
Al Ain qualified for the competition after winning the 2024 Asian Champions League under ex-Argentina striker Hernan Crespo and are now led by former Watford boss Vladimir Ivic, but they were well beaten by their superior opponents.
What was the main talking point?
Though it was a balmy 31C in Atlanta at the local kick-off time of 9pm, the heat and humidity was not a factor as the match was played inside the incredible 71,000-capacity venue, which is enclosed and fitted with air-conditioning, and City coolly despatched the Arab opposition without issues.
City boss Guardiola named a fully-changed starting line-up from the opening game win over Wydad, handing full debuts to left-back Rayan Ait-Nouri and midfielder Echeverri, while Bernardo Silva took the armband for the first time since being appointed club captain.
Good to see Rodri getting a run out
Decent win. It will be interesting to see the team against Juve which might be considered competitive football by Pep.
I am not working today so got up to watch it. My thoughts , for what they are worth:
Ait-Nouri looks like a player all right
Khusanov booked for a stupid challenge - a bit of a worry
Great free kick by Echeverri
Cherki looked better than last week and took his goal well
Gundo was MOTM and I hope that we keep him
Foden looked decent
Rodri looked off the pace and a bit tentative in challenges - understandably so
Gvardiol seemed to tweak his hamstring
Haaland missed two one on ones with the keeper
Khusanov looks like a hard hitting cb. Something we haven't had in our locker since otamendi ;)
Ait Nouri surprised me, in a good way.
Quote from: Swiss on June 23, 2025, 23:37:37Khusanov looks like a hard hitting cb. Something we haven't had in our locker since otamendi ;)
Ait Nouri surprised me, in a good way.
I like Khusanov , no nonsense