Manchester City brushed Al Ain aside to qualify for the FIFA Club World Cup Round of 16 with a game to spare.
The Blues were too good for the 14 time UAE Pro League Champions, scoring three goals in each half to get the job done.
Ilkay Gundogan set the ball rolling as his clipped cross nestled in at the back post, with Claudio Echeverri’s freekick and Erling Haaland’s penalty effectively sealing the game before the break.
Gundogan scored again approximately 20 minutes from time, with Oscar Bobb scoring the fifth (set up by fellow returnee from a long term absence Rodri) and Rayan Cherki rounding the game off with his first City goal.
Here are three things we learned as City thrashed Al Ain:
Entertaining football is back!
Manchester City FC v Al Ain FC: Group G - FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Photo by Patrick Smith - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images
It’s not really unfair to say that the entertaining, quick, free flowing football that we saw from 2017-19 hasn’t been around in the last few years; even during the treble, a pragmatic approach was preferred.
But what we saw particularly in the last half hour or so was a return to exciting, fast paced football, as reports suggest City are set to favour this season.
Footage of new assistant coach Pep Lijnders shouting “quicker” in training is reflecting on the pitch. Bobb, Cherki, Haaland, Gundogan and Phil Foden were having a whale of a time by the end of the game, and could’ve scored more if the game went on for longer.
Rayan Ait-Nouri and Matheus Nunes provide exciting options at full back that can get up and support the attack, whilst solid defensive players such as Rodri and Josko Gvardiol also have attacking prowess.
Yes, the quality of the opposition was terrible, but we can already see some positive signs ahead of next season.
It’s impossible to see who might leave
Manchester City FC v Al Ain FC: Group G - FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images
Doing media duties post game after his brace, Gundogan revealed his desire to stay at City for at least another season, making him the second player of the day to do so after John Stones.
This - combined with the news that Bernardo Silva has been appointed as the club’s new captain and Vitor Reis is expected to stick around - makes you wonder, just who is going to leave this summer?
Echeverri leaving on loan only kicks the can down the road for another 12 months, and he already looks good enough to be a squad player, but that looks the most likely deal at the moment.
Mateo Kovacic surely won’t leave because of his injury, and other than that, I can’t think of any truly likely candidates to leave the club.
Stones, Manuel Akanji and Nathan Ake could all leave if told they’re not a part of the plans anymore, but there’s no chance all three of them will go.
It’ll be hard to shift Kovacic with his injury but that’s another possibility. Gundogan too could go, with Galatasaray interested, but he’s too good for that level based on his last few performances.
I’m sure the club will find a solution (and they’ll need to, what with registration rules) but right now I can’t predict what the squad will look like at the end of this window.
The Blues are arguably tournament favourites
Manchester City FC v Al Ain FC: Group G - FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Photo by Jose Hernandez/Anadolu via Getty Images
This new, fresh City side will take some beating; even the best teams in Europe will fear them.
PSG have had a fantastic, treble winning campaign, but were poor and lost to Brazilian side Botafogo, meaning their qualification is hanging in the balance.
Real Madrid have just four points from two games and have somewhat struggled. City will want to avoid them in the Round of 16, however, as they’re Real Madrid, and are always capable of turning the screw when it matters most in the knockout games.
But if their attack continues in this vein, it’ll mean that City no longer have possession for possession’s sake and it’ll cause any defence in the world an issue.
Brush up a bit on the defence (and new coach and former City centre back Kolo Toure will help with that) and we have an all conquering team again on our hands.