Manchester City secured their place in the knockout stages of the Club World Cup by thrashing UAE side Al Ain.
Man City defender Abdukodir Khusanov is shown a yellow card against Al-Ain
Man City defender Abdukodir Khusanov is shown a yellow card against Al-Ain
(Image: David J. Griffin/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
Manchester City booked themselves a place in the last 16 of the Club World Cup in the early hours of Monday morning after a 6-0 win over last year's Asian Champions League winners Al Ain.
A brace from Ilkay Gundogan and goals from Claudio Echeverri, Erling Haaland, Oscar Bobb and Rayan Cherki sealed a comfortable win in Atlanta and secured City's place in the knockout stages with a game to spare.
It backed up City's 2-0 win over Moroccan side Wydad AC in their opening group game and now they will face Juventus in their final group match looking to finish top of the table.
The Italian side have also won both of their group games, beating Al Ain 5-0 and Wydad AC 4-1.
Both sides boast a goal difference of +8 but Igor Tudor's side sit above City in top spot by virtue of scoring one more goal than Pep Guardiola's men.
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It means City will have to beat Juventus on Thursday if they are to secure top spot in the group when they meet at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
Guardiola has named two entirely different starting XIs in City's two matches so far and one player may have done his chances some harm of starting against the Italian giants.
Abdukodir Khusanov picked up a yellow card in the win over Al Ain and he is now walking a suspension tightrope.
FIFA Club World Cup rules state that if any player is given a yellow card in two different games they will miss their team’s subsequent match.
Yellow cards will be wiped after the quarter-finals. If, during the quarter-finals, a player is booked for the second match at the tournament, he will be suspended for the semi-final.
It means that if Khusanov picks up a yellow card against Juventus, in City's last 16 match, or in their quarter-final if they reach that stage, then he will pick up an automatic one-match ban.
As such, Guardiola may choose not to use him against Juventus to ensure he has as many players available as possible heading into the knockout stages.
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