Juventus and Manchester City face off in perhaps the most interesting match of the group stage of the Club World Cup, reported sportal.bg.
Both teams have already guaranteed their place in the knockout phase after winning their first two matches of the tournament, but now they are in a direct clash for first place in Group G. This position is currently occupied by the “Bianconeri”, who have a slight advantage in terms of goals scored.
The match is also important in terms of the possible opponents in the 1/8 finals. The team that finished second in this group will face the winner of Group H, which will most likely be Real Madrid.
The “Old Lady” have scored nine goals and conceded just one, while the “citizens” have scored eight goals and are still without a clean sheet.
In the first round, Juventus won 5-0 against UAE side Al Ain, leading by four goals at half-time. Then, the second-half substitutes Randall Colo Muani and Francisco Conceicao scored twice each, while young star Kenan Yildiz scored once. In their second match, City won 4-1 over Wydad Casablanca. The match was largely a show for Kenan Yildiz (16', 69'), who scored two goals and was instrumental in the Moroccans' third goal, but it was ruled an own goal by Boutuil (6') after a rebound. The last goal for the Italians was scored by Dusan Vlahovic (90'+4'), who came off the bench and scored from a penalty. Tembinkosi Lorch (25') scored for the Africans. Juve are on a seven-match unbeaten run.
Manchester City have made a successful start to their Club World Cup campaign with a 2-0 win over Wydad Casablanca. The “Citizens”, who won the old format of the tournament in 2023, left no doubt that they were the classier team and with goals from Phil Foden (2’) and Jeremy Doku (42’) they achieved success. In the second half, the “sky blues” controlled the match very well and, although they were left with a man less at the end after a controversial red card for Rico Lewis, they did not allow pressure in front of their goal. In the second round, Josep Guardiola's team defeated Al Ain 6:0. Ilkay Gundogan scored two goals for the ”citizens”, and Claudio Echeverri, Erling Haaland (from the penalty spot), Oscar Bob and Ryan Sherkey scored once each. For Echeverri and Sherki, these were their first goals for the English giants.
City have only lost once in their last 15 matches in all competitions.