City show title credentials with Juve rout, Al Ain sign off in style

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City demonstrated their Club World Cup credentials with a 5-2 victory over Juventus on Thursday while Vinicius Junior starred as Real Madrid beat Salzburg 3-0 to secure a spot in the last 16.

Al Hilal of Saudi Arabia beat Pachuca of Mexico 2-0 to pip Salzburg to the last berth in the knockout phase, as Al Ain battled to a 2-1 win over Wydad Casablanca in the day’s other game.

City became the only side at the tournament to win all three of their group matches as they put Juventus to the sword in front of 54,320 at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, underline their title credentials.

City now face Al Hilal, the only Asian representative in the next round after goals from Salem Al-Dawsari and Brazilian Marcos Leonardo against Pachuca.

“We played well and I’m happy with the victory,” said City winger Jeremy Doku, who opened the scoring.

Doku pounced for the early opener after new arrival Rayan Ait-Nouri set him up with a clever ball.

However City stopper Ederson passed the ball straight to Teun Koopmeiners who levelled for Juventus, in one of the few moments in which Guardiola’s team let their focus slip.

Pierre Kalulu bundled into his own net from Matheus Nunes’ cross to restore City’s lead.

The Premier League side, hoping to make up for a poor season by their standards in which they finished without a major trophy, stepped up a level after the break with Erling Haaland’s introduction.

The Norwegian striker tapped home the third and then helped create the fourth for Phil Foden, before Savinho smashed home from distance for the fifth.

Dusan Vlahovic netted late on for Juve but it did not take the shine off an impressive triumph for City, who were able to give holding midfielder Rodri a first start after his long injury lay-off.

“Manchester City have a lot better (quality of) players than us, that’s the truth, that needs to be acknowledged,” said Juventus coach Igor Tudor as his side finished second in Group G.

“The stars didn’t align for us to play better tonight.”

Al Ain got the better of Wydad in Washington, DC in a meeting of two teams who were already eliminated but were hoping to sign off with a victory.

South African striker Cassius Mailula blasted the Moroccans into an early lead but Togo international Kodjo Fo-Doh Laba levelled from the spot just before the break for Al Ain.

The Togolese forward was the UAE Pro League’s top scorer this past season.

That was their first goal of the tournament after 5-0 and 6-0 thrashings by Juve and City respectively, and Paraguayan international Alejandro Romero Kaku curled home from the edge of the box to earn the team from the UAE victory.

“I think it’s a good experience. It was a difficult group, with (Manchester) City and Juventus, but we competed until the end. I think this is good for Al Ain,” said Kaku.

Wydad coach Mohamed Amine Benhachem was at the game on crutches following a traffic accident with a team physician earlier in the week.

Vinicius stars in Madrid win: Vinicius scored one goal and made another with a touch of class as Madrid saw off Salzburg in Philadelphia to clinch top spot in Group H.

Real play Juventus in the last 16 in Miami on Tuesday.

The Brazil star Vinicius opened the scoring after a superb defence-splitting pass by Jude Bellingham on 40 minutes, to the delight of the vast majority of the 64,811 crowd on a rainy night at Lincoln Financial Field.

Vinicius then set up Federico Valverde with a clever backheel to make it 2-0 in first-half stoppage time.

Young striker Gonzalo Garcia ran through to wrap up the win late on with his second goal of the tournament, as Xabi Alonso’s team end the first round of FIFA’s new tournament unbeaten.

“I am pleased with the boys, and now the interesting phase begins,” Alonso told broadcaster DAZN.

Real were once again without top scorer Kylian Mbappe, who has yet to play at the tournament as he recovers from illness.

“We thought Kylian would make it and it wasn’t to be. Now we have four days and I want to be optimistic but cautious at the same time,” Alonso said.

Agencies