Man City were in ruthless mood as they swept aside Juventus in Orlando
Man City were in ruthless mood as they swept aside Juventus in Orlando
The Club World Cup might not yet have fully caught the football world's imagination, but for Manchester City, a sticky afternoon in Orlando in late June might just prove to be a key staging point in their rejuvenation.
Whisper it quietly, but this was the of old. A controlled, slick performance full of threat and intent, and if they were paying attention, the kind of display that would have made those in charge at Anfield and the Emirates sit up and take note.
The Blues will want their title back this season. After two easy workouts at the Club World Cup, they stepped up in their biggest match to date and found a rhythm that only hinted at good things to come. Let's not get carried away and say City are back, but they are certainly on the right path.
message to his squad at their Boca Raton base on the eve of this tournament was to forget last season, to consign it to the history books. As far as official records are concerned, the stats being tallied up in the United States are part of 2024/25. As far as the City are concerned, this is the opening salvo of 2025/26.
It has allowed Guardiola and his players to draw a line under their difficulties of last season. Eight new signings in 2025 - half in January and half in June - have injected some freshness into the squad and the time they have had together up the coast from Miami is proving beneficial.
It's worth remembering that during City's most disappointing spell of last season, they lost to Juventus. That 2-0 defeat in Turin helped condemn them to a Champions League play-off and defeat to Real Madrid.
Seven months on, they looked like a different team. Juventus did get themselves back in the game early on after an Ederson mistake, but other than City's control was total. Having been hit on the transition so often last season, they barely gave up a chance on the break against a team of Juventus' quality.
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The return of Rodri to the starting XI for the first time since September clearly helped deliver that control, and his partnership with Tijjani Reijnders is already flourishing. They bossed the middle of the pitch during their time together, with Rodri happy to sit deep and break up play.
When required, Reijnders would drop alongside him, but the Dutchman also showed the ambition he built up at AC Milan last season. He was involved in the third goal and made a couple of eye-catching runs into attacking areas.
The other area that would encourage Guardiola was the threat City showed out wide. Three of the goals came from the wing, and the first and third were wonderfully worked.
Rayan Ait-Nouri and Jeremy Doku combined thrillingly down the left to break the deadlock, with Ait-Nouri's pass and Doku's run and finish all of the highest order. Pierre Kalulu got his feet in a mess for the own goal, before Reijnders' pass found Matheus Nunes breaking in behind. His low ball was finished by
Haaland helped create the fourth after being picked out by a long ball forward from Ederson. That was more familiar from City, but the sight of Phil Foden scoring again after replacing Doku should encourage Guardiola. Not only does it show the depth now on offer in this squad, but Doku and Foden are perfect examples of players who look energised by the message that this is a new season.
On this evidence, it could be a glorious one for City. Savinho put the icing on the cake in Orlando with a thunderbolt from 20 yards.
There are more tests to come, both in this tournament and back in England, but this performance was arguably better than anything they produced last season, and some of the key traits of Guardiola's best teams at the Etihad were back on show.