City demolishes Al Ain to reach last 16

ATLANTA — Manchester City booked its place in the Club World Cup last 16 with an emphatic 6-0 rout of Al Ain in Atlanta on Sunday.

In a match dubbed the "Abu derby", with City owner and United Arab Emirates Vice-President Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan's side facing off against that of his elder brother, Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan, president of Al Ain and also the country, the Premier League side was relentless in victory.

Ilkay Gundogan put City ahead, before starlet Claudio Echeverri netted his first goal for the club with a freekick and Erland Haaland slotted in a penalty for City's third.

In the second half, Gundogan struck again, Oscar Bobb rolled in the fifth and Rayan Cherki grabbed his first City goal, as it pulled level with Juventus on six points at the top of Group G. The result also confirmed Juve's place in the next round.

"Now we have to see whether we'll be first or second in the group," said City coach Pep Guardiola.

"We played a little bit better than the first game, especially in the second half."

Guardiola said that, on the eve of the game, his squad needed trimming, and that was reflected in his decision to rotate his entire starting lineup from the opening win over Wydad Casablanca.

In came superstar striker Haaland, new arrival Rayan Ait-Nouri, and exciting prospect Echeverri, among others.

Serbian coach Vladimir Ivic's Al Ain was crushed 5-0 by Juventus in their opening fixture, and the 10-time Premier League champion provided another unforgiving challenge.

After a disjointed opening, City took the lead in the ninth minute in fortuitous fashion, with Gundogan's chip towards Haaland at the back post floating into the net of its own accord.

Al Ain had a good chance to pull level, when the dawdling Nico Gonzalez had his pocket picked and the UAE side sprang forward, but Nassim Chadli's effort was superbly tipped wide by City keeper Stefan Ortega.

Nineteen-year-old Argentine attacker Echeverri doubled City's lead with a perfect 27th-minute freekick that swerved around the outside of the wall, leaving Al Ain keeper Khalid Eisa rooted to the spot.

With the Mercedes-Benz Stadium mostly full apart from the top ring of seats, fans began sending a Mexican wave around the ground.

It came to a standstill when Bernardo Silva's corner was headed against the post by Josko Gvardiol, before starting back up.

Haaland rolled a shot narrowly wide after a one-two with Silva sent him galloping through.

The Norwegian hitman eventually got his goal in first-half stoppage time, after Manuel Akanji was hauled to the ground by Ramy Rabia and City was awarded a penalty following a VAR review.

Haaland sent Eisa the wrong way with a low spot-kick for his first goal of the tournament.

Haaland should have scored again after the hour mark, but Eisa denied him with a good double save. Instead, it was Gundogan who got his second, with a well-taken dinked finish.

The midfielder has recently been linked with a move to Galatasaray, but Guardiola said Saturday he is still counting on the 34-year-old in the United States.

Substitute Bobb showed fleet footwork prior to rolling in the fifth at the near post, before French attacking midfielder Cherki sealed the win.

Signed from Lyon ahead of the tournament, Cherki had a quiet debut against Wydad, but powered home from the edge of the box late on in his second appearance.

City faces Juventus in Orlando on Thursday in a shoot-out to decide who will finish top of the group and potentially avoid a last-16 clash against Spanish giant Real Madrid.

With one more score, it would have moved ahead of Juve on goal difference and had a slight advantage, but City ran out of time.

"Unfortunately, we started the second half a bit slow, so there was not much time at the end to score the last goal to go ahead of Juve before the last group-stage game," Gundogan told DAZN.

"That's maybe the slightly disappointing part of the night, but the result speaks for itself and it was fully deserved."

AFP