The step up quality from [Juventus](https://www.blackwhitereadallover.com)’ first two Club World Cup group stage games to Thursday’s Group G finale against Manchester City was a steep one. It was always a given, and the first real test of Igor Tudor and his squad’s credentials after two blowout wins over the two underdogs of the group.
Then came a starting lineup that was less than full strength. Then City starting on the front foot and pinning Juventus back, with the lone bright spot being the massive error at the back that led to Teun Koopmeiners’ 11th-minute goal to tie things up.
Even then, things weren’t great at all.
And you thought it couldn’t get much worse when Pierre Kalulu tried to clear the ball but actually ended up kicking it into his own net.
Oh, it got worse. Much, much worse.
Kalulu’s own goal not only gave Manchester City a 2-1 lead heading into the half, but proved to the first of four unanswered goals scored by the English giants on their way to a 5-2 victory over Juventus. It was, in every sense of the phrase, a total beatdown by a City squad that is very much in its early stages of their rebuild following a hugely disappointing 2024-25 season. But, simply put, Juventus had no answer for this new-look Man City side, and the final scoreline is only one piece to the puzzle as to how bad it was for Tudor’s squad, who entered with a lot of wind in their sails after big wins over Al Ain and Wydad Casablanca.
Thursday’s outing in the Florida heat — and short downpour — was the opposite of that.
Juventus were outclassed in every single way possible in this sport. City outshot Juventus by a wild 24-5 margin. City had more than five times as many shots on goal than Juventus, 11-2. Juve’s only two shots on goal were their actual goals — and, like I said, the first of those goals was absolutely gifted to Koopmeiners thanks to Ederson’s latest blunder in distribution at the back.
It was bad. It was very, very bad.
And that was a feeling some of us had even before kickoff.
I don’t blame Tudor for wanting to rotate his squad a little bit. They’re playing their third game in eight days and have been playing in the heat and humidity that has covered large swaths of the United States over the last week. That heat in the middle of the afternoon in Florida is always going to be brutal this time of year — and that is even after a small storm surge rolled over Camping World Stadium midway through the first half.
But, with all of that being said, why so many changes knowing that it’s Manchester City and its roster full of stars and plenty of new additions? I am confused — and I’m not the only one.
City took full advantage of a somewhat second-choice Juventus starting lineup. Full stop. If it wasn’t for some of the seven saves that Michele Di Gregorio made on Thursday, the 5-2 scoreline would have been even more of a blight on Juve’s group stage finale.
Even with this Juventus are still going to be playing in the Club World Cup knockout rounds, although now likely facing Real Madrid because of this result and they’re second-place finish in Group G. Juventus didn’t need a win to finish atop the group, with a draw being good enough to get the job done and allow them to slot in ahead of Man City.
With how well City played and how they absolutely took Juve apart, thinking that was even possible does, in hindsight, feel at least a little bit naive. Oh well. We all make mistakes.
* Pre-game thought No. 1: I know that it’s been a lot of minutes in a short amount of time during this group stage and there’s been brutal weather conditions on top of it, but those were some interesting starting lineup choices!
* Pre-game thought No. 2: Hey, it’s Filip Kostic!
* Pre-game thought No. 3: No Timothy Weah and Samuel Mbangula on the bench for Thursday’s showdown with Man City. I guess that’s a sign that something could be going down. Or maybe not. Who the heck knows at this point.
* Post-game thought No. 1: Oh that was bad.
* I hope that, even with this very bad loss, we have the energy to create a prayer circle for Nicolo Savona’s ankle because that did not look good. Neither did his reaction or ability to put absolutely no weight on it after he was helped off the field.
* I repeat: If it wasn’t for Michele Di Gregorio, this game would have been even more out of hand than it already was. I can’t remember the last time I saw a keeper see five goals hit the back of the net yet still be considered arguably his team’s best player on the day.
* That also speaks to how bad the vast majority of his teammates played against City, but still.
* I mean, when Lloyd Kelly is the defender who had the best game amongst his position group, that’s not exactly something that shows how well your team played.
* I’m worried Alberto Costa might have some nightmares in a few hours and Jeremy Doku will be the one who is at the center of them. Boy oh by did Costa struggle to make Doku from the start of this game until he was subbed off.
* Juventus passes completed in the first half: 116.
* Man City passes completed in the first half: 397.
* Juventus passes completed in total: 239.
* Man City passes completed in total: 771.
* With that, I say this: ha ha ha.
* Manchester City’s highest paid player scored a goal just a few minutes after coming on to begin the second half.
* Juventus’ highest paid player scored a goal when the game was already over. That’s right — for the second straight game, Dusan Vlahovic got himself another goal in garbage time.
* At least the ball from Kenan Yildiz to Vlahovic was pretty, so there’s that.
* Juventus went over 70 minutes without a shot on goal. That’s ... not good.
* I think over that same time span City had about 50 shots on target. Or at leasr that’s what it felt like as I watched all of that nonsense play out.
* Let’s just go ahead and not talk about Vlahovic’s first scoring chance of the day, OK? Yeah, good, I don’t need to be reminded of that ever again.
* Ten different Manchester City players completed more passes than Juve’s leader in that category, Mr. Lloyd Kelly himself. I am starting to think that’s not great.
* Juventus also completed just 77% of their passes in the first half and couldn’t even get out of their half of the field for large stretches. That’s not great, either.
* Andrea Cambiaso was subbed on with over half an hour to go and I don’t think I heard his name called out at least once.
* Speaking subs, why did Tudor wait until the 57th minute to make his first moves? I don’t know and I need somebody to explain it to me as soon as possible.
* Is there anything else that needs to be said? Because I feel like there isn’t much.
* In conclusion, Juventus’ inability to have any sort of answer allowed a Manchester City side that is in the early stages of this large-scale (and big-money) rebuild to run all over them. That’s not a good sign for one of those two clubs who played in Orlando on Thursday.