A Perfect Record: Takeaways As Man City Make Club World Cup Statement With Win Over Juventus | OneFootball

Manchester City secured an emphatic 5–2 win over Juventus as Group G in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup concluded on Thursday.

Both City and Juventus had six points each before kick-off, but the Cityzens needed to win to secure their spot. A draw would favour the Italian side.

It took only nine minutes for Jérémy Doku to open the scoring, although a mistake from Ederson quickly allowed Teun Koopmeiners to equalise. But City then received their own gift when Pierre Kalulu prodded the ball into his own net without much pressure nearby.

There had only been two shots on target in the game at that stage—but bizarrely three goals—and it seemed to take a heavy but brief rainstorm to inject some life into the crowd, and into the game. After the literal downpour, the metaphorical floodgates eventually opened after the interval, with Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Savinho running up the score.

Dušan Vlahović pulled one back for Juve before the end, but it was consolation at most.

City’s Perfect Record

None of the group winners in the Club World Cup have progressed to the knockout phase with a perfect winning record, except Manchester City.

Every other side that has reached the next stage—including Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Bayern Munich—has dropped least two points in the opening three games. Not City.

Juventus had also been victorious over Al Ain and Wydad AC through the opening two matchdays and, due to the tiebreaker criteria, Pep Guardiola’s side went into Matchday 3 knowing that only a win would be enough to get ahead of the Italian giants. A draw was only ever going to be good enough for second place, and likely a last 16 encounter with Real Madrid, who are soon to play their last game.

It was easy to criticise City for comfortably winning their first two games, putting six goals past Al Ain. But scoring five against Juventus was a real statement from this new-look side. Not only will they be among the favourites for the Club World Cup as the knockout rounds soon begin, it’s a significant foundation ahead of the new Premier League and Champions League seasons too.

Aït-Nouri Fun to Watch

City finished last season without sufficient defensive depth, and homegrown attacking midfielder Nico O’Reilly ended the campaign at left back.

The rebuild has been proactive—starting with aggression as early as January—and Rayan Aït-Nouri was the first new signing secured in the pre-Club World Cup mini-transfer window.

The Algeria international didn’t feature against Wydad AC, but played 90 minutes against Al Ain to mark a City debut. His Juventus performance felt like a preview of what fans can expect over the months to come, particularly what appeared to already be a strong relationship with Jérémy Doku.

His presence could also ultimately free up Joško Gvardiol to be utilised centrally more often, which could well be the 23-year-old’s long-term position.

Rodri’s First Start

Rodri made his return from an ACL injury in the penultimate game of the Premier League season against Bournemouth last month. But that was just a seven-minute cameo. He had around half an hour in each of the first two games of the Club World Cup, against Wydad AC and Al Ain—registering an assist against the latter, but a first start was what supporters were really waiting to see.

The 2024 Ballon d’Or winner lined up as the midfield linchpin for City, sitting behind the more advanced Bernardo Silva and Tijjani Reijnders. After 65 minutes, and the usual level of control and dominance, Guardiola continued to manage the comeback by withdrawing him.

Yet those in the stadium knew what they had witnessed and plenty were on their feet to applaud Rodri off the pitch.

300 for Haaland

Erling Haaland didn’t start the game, but the rapturous reception the City striker got when he appeared from the bench to begin the second half suggested plenty inside the stadium had come with a strong emphasis on seeing him play.

It didn’t take long for Haaland to get on the scoresheet and put some daylight in the scoreline for City, creating a crucial two-goal buffer to discourage any chance of a Juventus fightback.

The finish wasn’t particularly tidy, bobbling off his legs after Matheus Nunes squared the ball across the face of goal—the chance was created with the earlier inch-perfect pass from Tijjani Reijnders—but it was perhaps fitting of someone who has built a career from being a penalty box poacher.

It has been eight years since Haaland got the very first for Molde in Norway’s Eliteserien. Now, in his 354th game, it’s 300 career goals at senior club and international level. He turns 25 next month.

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