We are about to see Juventus hit the final 90 minutes of the Club World Cup group stage. And with it comes a meeting with an opponent that has always been viewed as the toughest matchup before the knockout rounds arrive on the schedule.
Juventus, fresh off two strong wins over Group G’s two clubs with zero points to their names, now turn their attention toward the group stage finale against Manchester City, a club that has undergone quite a revamp since they were on the Allianz Stadium turf in December. Pep Guardiola’s side have also started the Club World Cup group stage with two wins, although Juve can take claim to having a slight edge for the top spot in Group G thanks to having more goals scored.
That means Juventus don’t necessarily need a win in Orlando on Thursday afternoon (3 p.m. local time, 19:00 CEST) to claim the top spot in the group. They certainly can’t afford to lose, or else a meeting with Real Madrid is the most likely outcome for the Club World Cup Round of 16. Plus, finishing atop of Group G will mean Juve’s on the opposite side of the bracket of Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich, who would be looming as potential semifinal opponents.
So, with all respect to Al Ain and Wydad Casablanca, this is the game in which Juventus and Igor Tudor will get their biggest challenge ahead of the group stages. It will be quite a good test after such a strong start to the tournament — one where Juve have scored a combined nine goals and have seen a lot of things go right.
Can Juventus keep the good times going at the Club World Cup?
Well, it certainly won’t come as easy as it has during the first 180 minutes of game time in the tournament. City will be a unique test for Tudor’s squad as they also try and use the CWC as a stepping stone to a much-improved 2025-26 season.
As Juventus prepare for another outing in heat and humidity, here are a few things to watch for prior to the Bianconeri stepping onto the field at Camping World Stadium.
The big step up in competition
In their first two Group G fixtures, Juventus faced opponents who were predicted to have very little chance of advancing to the knockout rounds.
On Thursday, Juventus will be facing an opponent who many believe have a chance to win the whole damn tournament.
It is a stark jump up in competition no matter what stage of the rebuild Manchester City are in. We don’t need to go back too far to remember this, either — even as City were in the midst of their worst run of form under Guardiola since he joined the club in 2016, there was still the chance that the monster would reappear and make things incredibly difficult.
That, of course, didn’t happen and Juventus ended up beating Man City in one of the few truly memorable victories with Thiago Motta as manager, but a whole lot has happened since that meeting in early December.
City spent nearly €200 million during the January transfer window. They’ve reportedly spent another €150 million during the 10-day pre-Club World Cup transfer window. Considering a third-place finish in the Premier League and no hardware is deemed a hugely disappointing season in Pep’s world, City’s roster has gotten the expected revamp over the last two transfer windows.
They’ve used the Club World Cup to try and accelerate the acclimation process — which isn’t a surprise based on how many new players they have and what this summer is likely in terms of normality. They’ve also got the reigning Balon d’Or winner, Rodri, back in the fold after he missed the better part of the last year with a major knee injury he sustained back in September
Juventus will clearly have their work cut out for themselves when they face one of the most expensive squads in the world. What state that City squad will be in during these early stages of the rebuild remains to be seen, but it surely proves Tudor with quite a measuring stick ahead of the knockout rounds.
How Tudor sets things up against a much better opponent
First, let us look at this short two-minute breakdown of how City lined up in their win over Al Ain over the weekend. It is helpful because, as we’ve already said, Pep is very much in the early stages of rebuilding City into what he hopes will be a serious title contender.
Analysis of Manchester City’s tactics against Al Ain in the Club World Cup on Sunday’s edition of The Press on @DAZNFootball with @jamesallcott. The 3-1-6 in possession, the role of the midfielders, the width: this was a lot of fun from Pep Guardiola. pic.twitter.com/Ax5qXWZdSv
— Julien Laurens (@LaurensJulien) June 23, 2025
So, after watching that, the question is this: What will Tudor do to try and combat a City squad who will probably be the side that has more of the ball compared to Juventus?
The thing that might make this even more of a challenging prep period for Tudor is the fact that Guardiola fielded completely different starting lineups in City’s wins over Wydad and Al Ain. Like, not three or four different players. Basically the entire squad — goalkeeper included. Different players, different types of formations, just virtually everything different.
It’s hard to use the Champions League meeting back in December as some sort of guide because so much has changed since then. Juventus have a different manager that uses a different formation compared to when they faced City in December. They are completely different styles, and Tudor’s clearly been able to tap into something that Thiago Motta couldn’t with this squad based on what players have said in recent interviews.
It won’t be much of a surprise to see City come out and have much of the possession because that’s just what City do. They want the ball at the feet and try to have that open up spaces to attack. The only thing different, of course, is the look of the roster that Pep has compared to seven months ago — and that is what makes this such an interesting matchup.
Manchester City FC v Al Ain FC: Group G - FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Photo by Alex Grimm/Getty Images
What this new-look Manchester City has to offer
Ultimately, this is what I’m most curious about when it comes to Juventus’ opponent on Thursday. So much of the discourse surrounding City over the last couple of weeks has involved just what this new-look side will look like. And a lot like this being Juve’s toughest opponent so far at the Club World Cup, it’s obviously the same case for Pep and City, too.
This is a revamp that is obviously in the very early stages, with the Club World Cup giving Guardiola the chance to tinker as well as see what his new signings — and those in January — can do in their new surroundings.
Because of the season that City just had domestically, there’s been a ton of attention put on what Guardiola is trying to accomplish this summer. He’s won so much in Manchester over the last decade that going without silverware and having the kind of extended struggles that his team had this past year is something that is very much against the normal state of things at the club. (Insert your own financial irregularity charges joke here.)
Like I said before, Guardiola has clearly been experimenting a little bit with his starting lineups in the first two group stage games — something that has been the completely different approach from what Tudor has done. What we see on Thursday will probably be what Guardiola, at this point, considers his best starting lineup, although it sure is hard to know for sure with some players only being on the roster for a couple of weeks.
Either way, Juve will get a first-hand look at what this new version of Man City will be like before anybody in the Premier League will. And since it’s so early, it could end up to working in Juve’s favor since things are still so much of a work in progress.
The continued shining star known as Kenan Yildiz
Go ahead insert the Earth, Wind & Fire here if you want. I won’t stop you. In fact, I may as well just come out and encourage it considering how great they are.
With that, I present you this: Kenan Yildiz is the biggest reason to watch Juventus right now.
Juventus FC v Wydad AC: Group G - FIFA Club World Cup 2025 Photo by Emilee Chinn - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images
No, that last sentence was not paid for by Juventus’ marketing team, but they are welcome to come on over and make some sort of offer for the future for a collab or something. So just you go ahead and remember that one, folks.
Seriously, though, Yildiz’s first two performances at the Club World Cup were pretty damn good. Add all you want about the caveats of the level of the opposition, but Yildiz looked far from a player who just logged 3,300 minutes and appeared in 48 games during the most recent Serie A and European campaigns. Instead, he hasn’t just scored goals — he’s done just about everything you would hope a player of his quality would do against low-level competition.
But now, Yildiz gets a shot at Man City. He gets to face off against one of the best teams in the world. (Yes, rebuild and all.) He gets to try and carry things over from the wins over Al Ain and Wydad into a matchup with a much higher level of competition.
It’s not in the Champions League, but it’s still Yildiz’s chance to shine in one of the biggest big club matchups of the group stage. With what he’s done in the tournament so far, there’s surely going to be a few more eyeballs — if not a lot more — on what this 20-year-old star in the making can potentially do.
Watching Yildiz at the Club World Cup has been quite fun thus far. Let’s hope it stays that way and Juve continue to ride the wave caused by their young No. 10.