Manchester City: Club World Cup opponents for Juventus

The Premier League giants will want to kickstart a new era following their dismal 2024/25 campaign.
Tijjani Reijnders is expected to make his Manchester City debut at the Club World Cup finals
Tijjani Reijnders is expected to make his Manchester City debut at the Club World Cup finals | BSR Agency/GettyImages

They failed to land a major trophy for only the second season since head coach Pep Guardiola joined in 2016.

Defending their Club World Cup crown, having thrashed Fluminense 4-0 in the 2023 final, could take some doing. Manchester City will no doubt be delighted that they tackle their nemesis Juventus in the group stage.

The Turin titans have collected four wins in their seven meetings with City, their most recent was December’s Champions League 2-0 home triumph where they tamed goal-machine Erling Haaland.

The Norwegian hit 22 Premier League goals last term, although Guardiola could also rely on versatile midfielder Tijjani Reijnders in the tournament.

Dutch ace Reijnders was recently acquired from AC Milan, where found the back of the net 15 times last season.

Manchester City Player Fact

Haaland was City’s only Premier League penalty-taker last season.

Key Manchester City Players

Goal assists: Ilkay Gundogan & Savinho

Goalscorers: Phil Foden & Erling Haaland

Corners: Phil Foden & Ilkay Gundogan

Penalties: Erling Haaland & Matheus Nunes

Manchester City Group G Games

18 June: Manchester City vs Wydad AC vs (Lincoln Financial Field, Philadelphia)

22 June: Manchester City vs Al-Ain FC (Mercedes-Benz Stadium, Atlanta)

26 June: Manchester City vs Juventus (Camping World Stadium, Orlando)

JUVENTUS CLUB WORLD CUP SQUAD

GOALKEEPERS

Giovanni Daffara, Michele Di Gregorio, Giovanni Garofani and Carlo Pinsoglio.

DEFENDERS

Bremer, Andrea Cambiaso, Alberto Costa, Federico Gatti, Javier Gil, Pierre Kalulu,  Lloyd Kelly, Jonas Rouhi, Daniele Rugani and Nicolo Savona.

MIDFIELDERS

Vasilije Adzic, Francisco Conceicao, Manuel Locatelli, Douglas Luiz, Weston McKennie, Khephren Thuram, Teun Koopmeiners, Filip Kostic, Augusto Owusu, Nicolo Turco and Timothy Weah.

STRIKERS

Lorenzo Anghele, Nicolo Cudrig, Nico Gonzalez, Tommaso Mancini, Samuel Mbangula, Arkadiusz Milik, Kolo Muani, Alessandro Pietrelli, Dusan Vlahovic and Kenan Yildiz.