The scoreline may have been a thumping 6-0 but for Manchester City it was not quite enough. “It felt like it cost us in the end,” Ilkay Gundogan, the scorer of two of their goals, admitted while Erling Haaland beat the ground in frustration at the final whistle.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
What does it mean? City are through to the last-16 of the Club World Cup, after being in one of the most mismatched of groups, but they must beat Juventus in Orlando on Thursday to finish in first place.
The importance of that was not lost on the players or on manager Pep Guardiola who implored them to go for more goals at half-time, when they led 3-0. If they had scored seven then a draw would have been good enough against Juventus. And first place means they would avoid Real Madrid in the first knock-out round and more likely face RB Salzburg unless they suffer a shock defeat to the Austrians.
And so by failing to show enough urgency and killer instinct it looked like a missed opportunity for City. Gundogan did not pull any punches. “It felt like we needed the seventh (goal),” the midfielder said. “We set that as our target at half-time but unfortunately we didn’t start the second-half good enough. We were a bit slow. It felt like it cost us at the end.”
In a sense it highlights some of the stark imbalances of this tournament that City are even talking about needing a seventh goal in their second group game. Their opponents, Al Ain, an Abu-Dhabi based club owned by the brother of City’s Sheikh Mansour, are ranked 586th in the Opta power rankings – five places below Reading. So that puts them in context.
They conceded five against Juventus and six against City – but the Italians then scored four (winning 4-1) against Wydad Casablanca who City only beat 2-0. It means they are level on goal difference but Juventus have scored one more goal and so all they need is a draw. Between them City and Juventus have scored 17 in four games and conceded one goal.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
But against Al Ain, City did not score in the second half until Gundogan added his second in the 73rd minute – and both his goals were well-taken as were all of them – so that was 28 ‘lost’ minutes against a meagre, beaten opponent when they appeared to be going through the motions.
“It’s difficult to find reasons for it sometimes. It’s something that shouldn’t have happened and maybe doesn’t make sense because of the way we performed in the first-half,” Gundogan said.
“It’s something we need to observe and get better because at the highest level you should not allow yourself to be not good for such a long time. It felt quite long to be honest. It felt at least five or 10 minutes too long in terms of the standards we have.”
When the sixth goal went in – a wonderfully taken effort by substitute Rayan Cherki, his first for City, after a lovey dummy and combination with Haaland – it was telling that the players sprinted back for the re-start, having been encouraged by Ruben Dias with Bernardo Silva tapping an imaginary watch in the dugout. But there were only two minutes left and they rued their complacency and the number of chances they failed to take.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
“With one more goal, we would have two options but we only have one now,” Guardiola said. “It would be better but (what is) important is we are in the next phase. If you want to go through you have to face top, top teams so it does not matter.
“We spoke at half-time to try to score as many goals as possible. Juventus are another opponents and we want to finish first. We have to beat the Italian team. If we are second we will see who we face in the last 16.”
Rayan Cherki scoring for Manchester City against Al Ain
Manchester City summer signing Rayan Cherki completed the scoring against Al Ain - Getty Images/Shaun Botterill
But he knows it is likely to be Real Madid. City lost to Juventus – and to Real – in last season’s Champions League but are, clearly, a different evolving team with four new signings to add to the four made in January. Cherki’s contribution was eye-catching but so was that of Rayan Ait-Nouri at left-back following his move from Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement
Having not had a specialist in that position since Joao Cancelo left in January 2023 – and even he was a converted right-back – it is one area that has now been solved and the 24-year-old Algerian was excellent as he was encouraged to attack by Guardiola.
There was also a first City goal, on his first start, by 19-year-old Argentinian Claudio Echeverri with a stunning free-kick although unfortunately he had to go off at half-time due to injury. By then Haaland had added a third from a penalty, after Gundogan’s chipped opening goal, with the other scorer being Oscar Bobb who came on as a second-half substitute and scored his first City goal since January 2024 following a long-term injury. But a seventh would not go in and City have, undoubtedly, suddenly made it harder for themselves if they are to win this tournament.