Manchester City will advance to the Round of 16 of this 2025 Club World Cup. The Sky Blues cruised past Al-Ain (UAE) with a 6-0 victory and thus secured their place in the second round of the group stage, although there will be a nice clash against Juventus on the final day for first place in the group, the Turin side also having two wins in as many matches. On the night of Sunday to Monday, it was a veritable offensive festival from Erling Haaland's team.
And it was also, for Rayan Cherki , the opportunity to show off after a somewhat complicated first match, and some initial criticism from across the Channel . Starting against Wydad, the former Olympique Lyonnais player was on the bench last night, and he had to wait until the 73rd minute for Bernardo Silva to give him his place. And as soon as he stepped onto the pitch, he made a difference, even scoring the sixth and final goal of the evening with a beautiful cross shot from outside the box. His first goal in his new colors. We felt he was very comfortable and already like a fish in water in this Mancunian offensive animation.
💥 NUMBER 6!
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Rayan Cherki joins the party with a clean finish — City running wild!
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Guardiola had a great time
Enough to delight the English press, who were just waiting for it. "He showed signs that he's more comfortable in the team, and he opened his account," says the Manchester Evening News , for example , which gives him a nice 7/10 for his entry. "Cherki shows a glimpse of what he can do in the future ," says The Sun , which highlights the figure of the Frenchman. The Daily Mail also headlines Cherki's goal in its report of the match, and on social networks, praise for the Blues' attacking midfielder has been numerous.
It must be said that in 17 minutes on the pitch, in addition to a goal, Cherki touched the ball 27 times, distributed 18 passes (90% success), won 4 duels, succeeded 2 dribbles and even recovered 2 balls. "We know the potential of Rayan Cherki. I see a lot of things in training and I say to myself, "what a player!". But as a new player, like Tijjani Reijnders, Marcus Bettinelli, Rayan Aït-Nouri, they need a little time to get to know us, to know what we want," said Pep Guardiola after the match, seduced and enthusiastic by Cherki's performance. It now remains to be seen if this good performance will allow him to convince the Catalan coach to start him for this first match against a big fish on Thursday evening at 9 p.m.
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