Juventus and Manchester City have only the top spot in Group G to play for in their third game at the Club World Cup and it could be the Premier League side who come out on top in their meeting in Orlando.
Passage into the last 16 of the Club World Cup has been a straightforward process for both Juventus and Manchester City and the pair could put on an entertaining spectacle in their battle to decide who will finish as top dog in Group G.
A draw would be enough for the Italians to finish at the summit as they have scored nine goals and conceded one in their matches against Wydad AC and Al Ain, while City have netted eight times while keeping two clean sheets.
Both defences look set to be tested in this one with Juve’s front three of Kenan Yildiz, Randal Kolo Muani and Francisco Conceicao all having netted twice in the tournament.
However, it looks like City could just hold the edge. Manager Pep Guardiola has already been able to boost his squad with some shrewd additions and now has a whole batch of players on his roster desperate to impress with one eye on the start of the Premier League season in August.
There is little doubt that he is taking the tournament very seriously and the prize of potentially avoiding a last-16 matchup against Real Madrid is enough of an incentive to ensure that his team is at the top of its game
City’s goal machine Erling Haaland is usually a very short price to find the net in matches, but there looks to be some value in backing him at -110 to find the net against the Old Lady in Florida.
The Norwegian has had eight efforts on goal in his two outings in the tournament and five of them have been on target, including a penalty in the Citizens’ 6-0 win over Al Ain last time out.
City endured a frustrating campaign in the Premier League last season, and it almost went unnoticed that Haaland helped himself to 22 goals, which was not a disappointing tally when you consider he missed a decent chunk of the season with an ankle injury.
There looks a decent chance that he could be back to the peak of his powers and it would not be a surprise if he played a scoring role in his team’s final Group G outing.
Guardiola has been active in the transfer market already this summer and the Citizens are further boosted by Rodri’s return to fitness after the Spaniard missed nearly all of last season with a knee injury.
The midfielder has been an integral player in all of City’s recent success and should be keen to make up for lost time with the new campaign on the horizon.
Guardiola will be keen for him to see plenty of match action over the summer and Rodri should be keen to show the fans just what they have been missing.
Although he is often cast as a defensive midfielder, the man who scored the winning goal in City’s Champions League win over Inter Milan two years ago and scored eight goals in the 2023/24 Premier League campaign is often willing to try his luck, so back him to test the Juventus goalkeeper in this clash.
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Juventus | +350 |
Tie | +260 |
Manchester City | -125 |
Erling Haaland | -110 |
Divin Mubama | +175 |
Omar Marmoush | +225 |
Phil Foden | +225 |
Rayan Cherki | +275 |
Savinho | +333 |
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This article was written by a partner sports writer via Spotlight Sports Group. All odds displayed on this page were correct at the time of writing and are subject to withdrawal or change at any time.