Manchester City will jet into the inland heat of Orlando’s Camping World Stadium for a 3pm showdown with Juventus on Thursday that will decide who claims Group G and so (probably) avoids Real Madrid and faces off against either Salzburg or Al Hilal in the last-16.
At a Mercedes-Benz Stadium akin in scale, football-venue-wise, to the Death Star, Pep Guardiola went one better than his pre-match declaration and fielded a completely fresh XI that cuffed aside Al Ain, the behemoths of the Emirati game.
City entered the break 3-0 to the good, making the second stanza a hunt for the four more unanswered goals that would pull them ahead of the Italian giants in the standings.
Inside a venue with the roof on and air-conditioned to a pleasing coolness, conditions were apt for what could be characterised a duck-shoot: the record 14-times Pro League victors in the sights of a Guardiola unit that wrestled throughout to find a relentless rhythm.
When Oscar Bobb gave City a 5-0 lead – the substitute weaved over from the right and slid in – five minutes of regulation game-time remained.
Next, Rayan Cherki, another replacement, fired past Khalid Eisa and when, moments later, an Erling Haaland toe poke set Phil Foden up at point-blank range City’s seventh should have come.
But, to Guardiola’s visible disgust, Foden hit the goalkeeper’s feet, and by the final whistle City remained in second place.
Even those of an Al Ain persuasion rated their hopes of even a heartening performance in the low percentages yet City were, largely, disjointed before, then after İlkay Gündoğan’s ninth-minute breakthrough.
Here, Bernardo Silva swung in a corner from the right, the Emiratis could not clear, the ball bobbbled to the German, and a half-swivel took him on to his left foot with which he dinked in a ball aimed for the lurking Haaland.
Except this beat Eisa and bounced sweetly – for City – in: Gündoğan’s cheeky grin suggested fluke but neither he or any teammate cared.
All evening, City never threatened to be the mesmeric pass-and-move proposition of the vintage Guardiola years.
Matheus Nunes, patrolling the right, booted one cross straight out. Rayan Aït-Nouri, in a first start at left-back, burst into the area, slalomed past two, three defenders, and flopped over.
But class usually tells. So when Facundo Zabala hauled down Nunes and was booked, Claudio Echeverri applied a dash. From a diagonal to the right of goal the Argentinian arrowed the ball straight home, leaving Eisa a statue. Why the keeper failed to move a foot or so to his left to beat out the free-kick is a mystery Sherlock Holmes might struggle to solve.
Despite their odd bits-and-pieces mode, City could have wandered off for their interval refreshments 6-0, not 3-0, up. Joško Gvardiol’s header pinged off Eisa’s right post and Haaland spurned two chances you would expect him to pot. One with his left foot from the left flirted with the goal and missed. One with his right from the right was a carbon copy – again rolling wide.
But the stanza did end with the No 9 on the scoresheet, via the spot, after the VAR ordered the referee, Mustapha Ghorbal, to the pitchside monitor. This came after Ramy Rabia flung Manuel Akanji to the turf in the area. Ghorbal, awarding the penalty, might have sent off the No 25 but he saw yellow only.
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Unlike the FA Cup final when Haaland refused the responsibility – Omar Marmoush took and missed against Crystal Palace – he did step up and registered, stroking the ball low into the right corner.
As City began their second half search for more goals, Echeverri’s work was done: Foden, the star act of the opening 2-0 win over Wydad, his replacement.
Ait-Nouri, again, bobbed and weaved in from the left and claimed a corner. It led to another – on the right – that Foden floated over and Vladimir Ivić’s unit survived.
City’s shape was the 4-1-4-1 that has often been Guardiola’s preferred configuration across his nine years piloting the team. With Foden now on, those in white had a man who knows how to orchestrate the attack and, when Rodri entered for the last half an hour, they had their chief conductor – the player who runs the whole show. Off went a near-anonymous Nico González for the Ballon d’Or holder.
The Spaniard was joined by Bobb as Guardiola reached for Al Ain’s jugular, the forward replacing a defender, Abdukodir Khusanov.
The now three-man rearguard soon watched as Foden, darting over from his No 10 berth to the left, slid over a ball Haaland galloped onto, twice letting go piledrivers that were repelled by Eisa, admirably.
Early on in the opening 45 minutes Nassim Chadli roved along the right, but from a tight angle failed to beat Stefan Ortega. Now, the same. This time a dance across City’s area created a straighter route to goal yet, again, his radar was wild.
Part of Gundogan’s stellar career is built on his eye for a finish and he soon show Chadli how to do the business where it counts, as nifty Silva footwork preceded a pass that put City’s No 19 in. From here, regulation Gundogan stuff: two strides were followed by a dink over Eisa that this time he certainly meant.
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