Manchester City became the first team to win three from three at the Club World Cup group stage as they ripped Juventus to shreds and clinched top spot in Group G.
Rodri made his first start in nine months, while Erling Haaland scored his 300th career goal as Pep Guardiola’s side booked a last-16 tie against the runners-up of Group H on June 30, which will take place at the same venue — Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida.
Jeremy Doku’s early goal was cancelled out by Juve’s Teun Koopmeiners, but City ran away with things from there on out, making their dominance count through a Pierre Kalulu own goal, close-range finishes from Haaland and Phil Foden, and a scorching strike from Savinho, with Dusan Vlahovic reducing the deficit late on.
Sam Lee, Thom Harris and Jordan Campbell break down the main talking points from Orlando.
How did Rodri look on his first start since September last year?
This was the first time Rodri had started a match in nine long months, and if his importance to City was not obvious before the knee injury that ruled him out for most of the season, it certainly was in his absence.
But City are doing all they can to put the bad vibes of last season behind them, and Rodri is playing a part in that revival.
There were obvious signs of rustiness in his first two appearances off the bench, against Wydad and Al Ain, and one or two stray moments against Juve, but overall, this was a very impressive 66-minute outing considering the time he has been on the sideline and the difficulty of suffering what was effectively a triple knee injury.
The midfield on the day had a lovely balance to it, with Tijjani Reijnders adding a bit of intelligent directness and Bernardo Silva doing his usual job of tying things together.
With Rodri adding his muscularity, positional sense, eye for a pass and everything else, City were able to quickly move through the gears once the Juve press was beaten — and that was increasingly often.
Rodri says himself it will be “months” before he gets back to his top level, so we should bear that in mind, but the comeback is going well so far.
Sam Lee
What was so different about Manchester City’s approach?
It’s nothing we haven’t seen from Guardiola’s City before: squeezing up, dominating possession, and zipping passes from side to side deep inside the opposition half.
But with the full-backs restored to traditional high-and-wide roles — as we saw for much of the second half of last season — and the technical excellence of Rayan Ait-Nouri introduced on the left, there’s a newfound dynamism to how this team builds up.
For large parts of the first half, the tireless Bernardo was drifting into a right centre-back role to allow both full-backs to push on. Other times, it was Rodri sitting between Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji, while Reijnders threatened with his darting movement up ahead.
Ait-Nouri, as well as playing that flying wing-back role, was also comfortable tucking into midfield, or even filling in as a wide centre-back. It all saw City constantly rotating, pulling defenders out of position and exploiting the space with passes in behind.
The Algeria international demonstrated his incision in the final third for City’s opener — drifting into a central space to help leave Jeremy Doku one-on-one against Alberto Costa, before slipping the Belgian in with a reversed, slide-rule pass.
On the opposite side, while Matheus Nunes offered less in the way of positional flexibility and neat interplay, it was his powerful forward running that created both the second and third, while Ait-Nouri was bouncing passes through midfield, an illustration of the varying full-back profiles at Guardiola’s disposal.
City haven’t always embraced the wide areas under Guardiola’s tenure, but there are some promising partnerships between intriguing full-backs and tricky wingers that are starting to blossom.
Thom Harris
Doku and Savinho hint at a brighter future
Savinho actually got the most league assists of any City player last season, with eight, and that is always worth pointing out considering a big accusation levelled at him throughout his debut campaign is that he has a poor end product.
It is probably easier to make that claim because Doku is basically the same over on the other flank, meaning the frustration is doubled: they are so good at dribbling to get into dangerous areas, but inside the box, things usually fizzle out, especially with their shooting.
Doku scored three league goals last season, Savinho just one. Both, though, notched brilliant strikes in Orlando; Doku burying the opener in the far corner and Savinho adding City’s fifth with an absolute rocket.
It was nowhere near the corner, but with that much pace and dip on it, no goalkeeper would stand a chance. It is a big ‘if’, but if these two young wide players can up their scoring output over the coming months, then City’s goal threat will be far greater than last season.
What a rocket! Savinho unleashes a screamer for City’s fifth 🚀 unstoppable 🤯
Watch the @FIFACWC | June 14 – July 13 | Every Game | Free | https://t.co/i0K4eUtwwb | #FIFACWC #TakeItToTheWorld #JUVMCI pic.twitter.com/uKH2lpCnoj
— DAZN Football (@DAZNFootball) June 26, 2025
Sam Lee
How Orlando could become City’s new home away from home
Miami has been City’s familiar base in this tournament, but they will hope Orlando assumes that status now it is their de facto home venue for up to another 11 days.
City’s failure to score a seventh goal against Al Ain meant that only a win against Juventus would be enough to top the group and avoid a potential meeting with the winner of Group H, which could be Real Madrid.
At Camping World Stadium, where temperatures reached around 35 degrees and included a hailstorm, City outclassed the Italians from the off.
Finishing first should offer them a slightly more favourable route in the knockouts as they will face the runners-up of Group H in the last 16: one of Real Madrid, Red Bull Salzburg or Al Hilal.
But it also means that both that game and the quarter-final, should they get there to face the winners of Inter vs Fluminense, will also be in Orlando.
A tournament which has demanded a lot of flying to and from their base in Miami is now reduced to a short journey up the coast. It will not quite be home advantage, but playing on the same pitch, in a tournament in which the surfaces vary, can provide them with a familiarity that their opponents lack.
Suddenly, having produced the best team performance in many months with the spine strengthened by Dias and Rodri, the path to the final has opened up for City.
Jordan Campbell
Juventus are flattened but still make it through
It isn’t often Juventus are beaten quite as severely as this, but Igor Tudor’s men couldn’t get near their vibrant opponents.
They saw just 24 per cent of the ball, their lowest share since at least 2016-17, when such data became available.
Their defensive shape — for much of the second half a passive 4-4-2 — could not contain City’s relentless rotations, but there were at least a handful of moments on the transition.
On another day, Vlahovic could have had a hat-trick, first pulling a cutback cross wide just after City’s opener, before attempting to take the ball around Ederson after a defensive mix-up.
The Serbian striker finished his third opportunity clinically, however, after a wonderful jolt inside and pass from Kenan Yildiz, arguably Juventus’ brightest spark despite just over 30 minutes on the pitch.
The Serie A side only needed a draw to secure top spot in Group G, but a comprehensive defeat means they will play the winners of Group H in Miami on Tuesday.
Thom Harris
What next for Juventus?
Tuesday, July 1: Group H winners v Juventus, Club World Cup round of 16 (Miami), 3pm ET, 8pm UK
What next for Manchester City?
Monday, June 30: Manchester City v Group H runners-up, Club World Cup round of 16 (Orlando), 9pm ET, 2am (Tuesday) UK
(Top photo: Sven Hoppe/picture alliance via Getty Images)
