Manchester City’s rout of Al Ain, despite the English club winning passage to the knockout stages of the Club World Cup, left manager Pep Guardiola with a small sense of disappointment.
At Mercedes-Benz Stadium on Sunday, City comfortably defeated the Emiratis 6 0 0 and drew level with Juventus in Group G in terms of points and goal difference.
In their final group match on Thursday, City will face Juventus to decide who will win and who will finish second.
Juventus take advantage of the second tiebreaker after points differential for teams equal to points to take the lead. In contrast to City’s eight goals, Juve have nine.
The top team from Group G will face Red Bull Salzburg, the second-placed team from Group H, in the round of 16. Real Madrid, the top team, is currently 15-time European champions, and the runners-up will take on them.
In the other Group G game, Juventus defeated Wydad 4-1.
As City look to bounce back from a disappointing season, new signing Rayan Cherki added one close to full-time and scored on a penalty with Claudio Echeverri and Oscar Bobb.
After beating Morocco’s Wydad 2-0 in the group opener, Man City put together a dominating performance in Atlanta against an overmatched United Arab Emirates team.
Guardiola claimed that his team “pushed and pushed to score another goal, but they ultimately fell short.
Rodri, a star forward for City, is making his gradual recovery from an ACL injury.
Rodri’s return was described as “he cannot play more than 30 minutes.” He still struggles a little in the duels and needs to be a little stronger, but that’s normal.
He played a lot, lot better than he did in the previous game, they say. We are deeply indebted to him. The world’s best player would be missed by any team.
Source: Aljazeera
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