Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City demonstrated their FIFA 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 Orland, Florida.
Photo: AFP
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.
Photo: AP
However, City stopper Ederson passed the ball straight to Teun Koopmeiners who leveled 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 English 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 layoff.
“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,” he added.
Al-Ain got the better of Wydad in Washington 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.
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 curled home from the edge of the box to earn the team from the United Arab Emirates victory.
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.
Brazilian star Vinicius opened the scoring after a superb defense-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 ended 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.
While British star Jack Draper spent the past week trying to find rhythm and comfort in his first grass tournament of the season at the Queen’s Club Championships in London, Jiri Lehecka on Saturday bulldozed everything in his path. After more than two furious hours of battle, their form was reflected in the final scoreline as Lehecka toppled a frustrated Draper, the second seed, 6-4, 4-6, 7-5 to reach the biggest final of his career, against Carlos Alcaraz. Lehecka is also the first Czech to reach the men’s title match at Queen’s since Ivan Lendl lifted the trophy in 1990. Draper, who
Top-ranked Aryna Sabalenka staged a “crazy comeback,” saving four match points before beating Elena Rybakina 7-6 (6), 3-6, 7-6 (6) in the quarter-finals of the Berlin Open on Friday. Sabalenka was 6-2 down in the final-set tie-breaker, but won six straight points to reach her eighth semi-final of the season. “Elena is a great player and we’ve had a lot of tough battles,” Sabalenka said. “I have no idea how I was able to win those last points. I think I just got lucky.” “I remember a long time ago when I was just starting, I won a lot of matches being down
The Canterbury Crusaders edged the Waikato Chiefs 16-12 in an intense Super Rugby Pacific final battle in Christchurch yesterday to claim their 15th title in 30 years of the Southern Hemisphere competition. Hooker Codie Taylor scored a try and Rivez Reihana contributed 11 points from the kicking tee as the most dominant team in Super Rugby history extended their perfect home playoff record to 32 successive matches since 1998. The Chiefs, who were looking for a first title since 2013, scored first-half tries through George Dyer and Shaun Stevenson, but were unable to register a point after the break and fell to
REUNION: Former Barcelona players Luis Suarez, Lionel Messi, Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba and Miami coach Javier Mascherano are to face their former coach Luis Enrique Inter Miami’s Lionel Messi faces a tantalizing reunion with former club Paris Saint-Germain in the FIFA Club World Cup last 16 after both sides on Monday progressed to the knockout phase. Miami drew 2-2 with Palmeiras to go through second in Group A, after the Brazilian side fought back from two goals down to seal top spot. They now face an all-Brazil clash against Botafogo, who lost 1-0 to Atletico Madrid, but progressed from Group B in second at the expense of the Spaniards. Champions of Europe PSG won the group with a 2-0 victory over Seattle Sounders, paving the
RSS