Jeremy Doku put on a brilliant display with plenty of support and some help from the opposition as Manchester City defeated Juventus 5-2 in the deciding match in the Club World Cup’s Group G on Thursday in Orlando.
“We played well. I’m happy with the victory,” Doku said. “Now we’re just curious to see who we’re going to play against.”
Manchester City later learned its Round of 16 foe will be Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal, with the match on Monday in Orlando.
Defender Pierre Kalulu’s gaffe on a cross from Savinho went past his own keeper and nudged City into the lead, 2-1, at the 26th minute. In the 52nd minute, striker Erling Haaland scored while shuffling his feet with a touch that bounded into an open net on a dish from Matheus Nunes. It was the 300th career goal combined for team and country for the 24-year-old Norwegian in only his seventh minute in Thursday’s match.
Phil Foden entered off the Manchester City bench in the 66th minute and tapped in his team’s fourth goal of the match three minutes later. Haaland’s 75th- minute header failed, only for Savinho to power a rebound off the crossbar and into goal to make it 5-1.
Juventus trimmed the deficit on an 84th-minute breakaway from Dusan Vlahovic, who scored for the second consecutive match.
With the teams effectively tied entering the match with two wins apiece, Man City leapt Juventus to the top of the table in a decisive victory that also bumped them to the top of the tournament with 13 goals. City (3-0-0, 9 points) became the only club to win all three matches in the group stage.
As the Group G winner, City will stay in Orlando to oppose Al Hilal, who beat Pachuca 2-0 later Thursday to finish second in Group H. Juventus (2-1-0, 6 points) are headed to Miami Gardens, Florida, as the runner-up in Group G. Their next matchup is Tuesday against Group H winner Real Madrid, who routed RB Salzburg on Thursday.
Man City went ahead 2-1 and held the margin at halftime, scoring first at the nine-minute mark when Doku hit the brakes in front of the net and found the top right corner.
Juventus’ Teun Koopmeiners evened the score two minutes later, but that was the final indication of a close tussle.
The victory was Man City’s first outright over Juventus since 1976.
Manchester City thrash Juventus 5-2 in Group G finale
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Manchester City thrash Juventus 5-2 in Group G finale
PSG ordered to pay around 60mn euros to Mbappe in wage dispute
- PSG in turn had demanded Mbappe pay them 440 million euros
- The labor court said the final figure of between 60 million and 61 million euros
PARIS: Paris Saint-Germain were ordered to pay their former forward Kylian Mbappe up to 61 million euros ($71.8 million) in unpaid wages and bonuses by a French labor court on Tuesday.
France captain Mbappe, who left PSG in June 2024 to join Real Madrid, had been claiming over 260 million euros in total from his former club.
PSG in turn had demanded Mbappe pay them 440 million euros.
Mbappe, 26, also claimed the Parisian club applied the wrong French legal classification to his contract, but that was rejected by the court.
The labor court said the final figure of between 60 million and 61 million euros was made up of 55 million euros in unpaid salary and around six million euros in holiday payments.
PSG did not immediately say if they intend to appeal.
Lawyers for Mbappe said in a statement they “noted with satisfaction the decision given by the labor court.”
“It re-establishes a simple truth — even in the professional football industry, labor laws apply to everyone,” the lawyers added in a statement.
The French club had said they were basing the figure they were claiming in part on a botched 300m-euro transfer to Gulf club which Mbappe refused in June 2023.
Mbappe left for Real Madrid on a free transfer when his contract expired the following summer.
He insisted he made no agreement in 2023 to waive any payment from the club.
Mbappe initially filed a complaint in June over the way he was treated by PSG at the start of the 2023-24 season.
Mbappe argues that he was sidelined by PSG and made to train with players the club were trying to offload after refusing to agree a new contract.
It is a widespread practice that in France prompted the players’ union to lodge a complaint last year.
Mbappe was not invited to take part in PSG’s 2023 pre-season tour of Asia and missed the first game of that season but was later recalled to the team after holding talks with the club.
After seven seasons with PSG he joined Real Madrid where he earns a reported annual salary of 30m euros.
Mbappe scored 256 goals in 308 games for PSG but the club won the Champions League for the first time last season following his departure.
