Five-star Manchester City thump Juventus as Rodri makes his long-awaited first start in nine months

Belfast Telegraph

a day ago

Both teams were already through to the last-16 but City now progress as Group G winners.
Rodri started for City for the first time since September 2024 after suffering his ACL injury and played 66 minutes as Pep Guardiola's side cruised to victory.
City will now stay in Orlando for their last-16 tie on Monday.
The Premier League side led at the break thanks to a Jeremy Doku finish and Pierre Kalulu own goal.
Teun Koopmeiners had hit a quickfire equaliser for Juventus after a mistake from goalkeeper Ederson.
In the second-half, City ran away with it with goals from Erling Haaland – the 300th of his career – Phil Foden and a Savinho thunderbolt.
Dusan Vlahovic pulled one back for Juventus in the 84th minute.
Guardiola has won all 11 of his Fifa Club World Cup games with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City. They have scored 37 goals and only conceded four.
City are the only team at the 2025 Club World Cup to win all three group games.
But midfielder Claudio Echeverri is expected to miss the remainder of the tournament after twisting his ankle against Al Ain.
The 19-year-old, who was given his full debut in that game, scored a sublime free-kick before leaving the pitch at half-time injured.
Ederson has dismissed speculation he could leave the club as 'fake news'.
The Brazilian has one year remaining on his contract at the Etihad Stadium and has been linked with a move to Saudi Arabia.
The 31-year-old has spent the past eight years at City and helped the club win 18 trophies, including six Premier League titles and the Champions League.
'My future is here,' Ederson said. 'Some friends send me lots of news, but 99 per cent is fake news.
'I understand you guys, you need the news, to put a 'like' on social media, but there's a lot of fake news around my name. My head is here.
'It stays with City. It means everything to go back to the Premier League and to try to win the Champions League as well. My mind is staying in the club.'
Uefa executives, meanwhile, will meet on Friday to decide whether Crystal Palace will be allowed to play in next season's Europa League.
The Eagles won the FA Cup to qualify for Europe for the first time in their history but Uefa must decide if they have breached its multi-club ownership rules.
The expectation is that the outcome of the hearing will be announced on Friday evening.
On Monday, it was announced New York Jets owner Woody Johnson has signed a 'legally binding contract' to buy John Textor's 43 per cent stake in Crystal Palace in a deal believed to be worth close to £190m.
Palace are under threat of losing their spot in Europe on the basis of Textor's involvement at the club.
Uefa has been considering whether Palace breached its multi-club ownership rules which bars linked clubs from competing in the same European competition.