Rodri starts in Juventus Group G decider | OneFootball

Rodri has been handed his first start since returning from long-term injury as City face Juventus in our FIFA Club World Cup Group G decider.

The 2024 Ballon d'Or winner featured from the bench in each of our previous matches against Wydad AC and Al Ain, but will now start for the first time since September of last year.

Rodri ruptured his anterior cruciate ligament in a Premier League clash with Arsenal, but returned to action in our final home match of last season.

Guardiola makes seven changes in total, with Ederson, Ruben Dias, Tijjani Reijnders, Savinho, Jeremy Doku and Omar Marmoush also introduced for our showdown with Juventus, which will decide who qualifies as Group G winners.

Teams

CITY XI: Ederson, Nunes, Akanji, Dias, Ait-Nouri, Rodri, Reijnders, Bernardo, Savinho, Doku, Marmoush

Subs: Bettinelli, Ortega Moreno, Stones, Ake, Haaland, Nico, Gundogan, Reis, Gvardiol, Cherki, Khusanov, Foden, Bobb, O'Reilly

JUVENTUS XI: Di Gregorio, Costa, Kalulu, Savona, Kelly, Kostic, Locatelli, McKennie, Gonzalez, Koopmeiners, Vlahovic

Subs: Daffara, Garofani, Pinsoglio, Adzic, Bremer, Cambiaso, Conceicao, Douglas Luiz, Gatti, Kolo Muani, Milik, Rouhi, Rugani, Thuram, Yildiz

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Tactics

Ederson's goal is expected to be shielded by a back four of Matheus Nunes, Manuel Akanji, Dias and Ait-Nouri.

Rodri will sit in front of the defence, with Reijnders and Bernardo given license to get forward and join the attack.

At the sharp end, Savinho and Doku start on the flanks, with Marmoush leading the line.

Rodri's return

A long-awaited moment for City fans around the world - the 2024 Ballon d'Or winner is back in a starting XI for the first time in nine months.

Rodri's comeback has been carefully monitored, with the Spaniard gradually reintroduced to the action at the end of the 2024/25 campaign before playing 30 minutes in each of our opening Group G fixtures so far.

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And Guardiola has now opted to start the 29-year-old, though given the hot and humid conditions, the boss will likely call on reinforcements throughout the second 45, as he alluded to in his pre-match press conference.

He said: "We’re going to play new players in the next game, yeah. And in the second half too, I make the selection tomorrow, the line-up, thinking of the second half.

"With these conditions we’re not ready to play in the rhythm we’re playing for 90 minutes. Hopefully we can make more substitutions but it’s fine."

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Battle at the top

Both teams have already qualified for the knockout stages, but there's plenty riding on our Group G finale.

City and Juventus share almost identical records after two matches, both picking up maximum points and boasting a +8 goal difference, but it's the Italians who sit top having scored once more than the Blues.

Pep Guardiola's men need a win to finish top - anything less and we'll have to settle for second place.

With Real Madrid, RB Salzburg and Al Ain battling it out in this evening's round of fixtures, we still won't know our Round of 16 fate at full-time.

For a detailed breakdown on when, where and who we could face, click here.

Stats and Facts

This will be the first time that either an Italian side or an English side has ever faced European opposition at the FIFA Club World Cup.

Juventus have scored nine goals in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup, and only FC Bayern Munich (12) have scored more through the first two matchdays.

Manchester City are the second team to win their first four matches at the FIFA Club World Cup (including all formats) after FC Bayern Munich (first 6 through matchday 2 in 2025). City have outscored opponents, 15-0, over those four matches.

With his brace against Wydad AC, Kenan Yildiz has scored in three straight matches for Juventus in all competitions for the first time. It was his second brace for the club after scoring twice against Inter on 27th October in Serie A.

Manchester City’s Erling Haaland is one goal away from scoring the 300th goal of his top-flight and international career; the striker has scored in each of his last four starts for club and country and could do so in five straight for the first time since April 2023 (7 in a row).