Juventus Dominates Al Ain in a Smooth Club World Cup Debut

With Francisco Conceição playing a leading role, Juventus overwhelmed Al Ain and kicked off their Club World Cup campaign with a 5-0 thrashing in Washington, the US capital. 

See Also

• Juventus Dominates Al Ain with a 5-0 Victory in FIFA Club World Cup Opener

In the same Group G, earlier, Manchester City defeated WAC, Juventus' next opponent. Al Ain will face the Citizens. 

It was easy

Juventus pressed on the right from the start, and it didn't take long to be rewarded. In a move that began with Francisco Conceição, Alberto Costa received the ball after a triangulation and delivered a perfect cross for Kolo Muani to score with a header. 

The match continued with Portuguese prominence, and the second goal came shortly after. Alberto Costa made a beautiful play in the box, beat the defense, and set up Francisco Conceição, who created space for a left-footed shot that also took a deflection to find the back of the net. 

Taking advantage of the 'Portuguese crutch,' the Old Lady built a comfortable victory. The third goal was a masterpiece: Yildiz received the ball on the right, took it for a shot, and hit a powerful strike from outside the box to score a beautiful goal: 3-0. 

Juve completely dominated the first half. They accelerated when necessary and slowed down when they wanted to. In the stoppage time of the first half, the third goal came: THuram sent Kolo Muani behind the defense. The forward outran the defense in speed and beat the goalkeeper to score the fourth. 

There was more

With the natural relaxation of the opponent, Al Ain started the second half on the front foot. They had a goal disallowed early on and, soon after, Laba forced Di Gregório to work after a right-footed strike. 

Soon, Juventus, without much effort, responded to increase the rout. Again with a Portuguese protagonist: Francisco Conceição received the ball on the right, invaded the area, shook off the defense, and shot with his left foot into the corner: 5-0, to keep the count. 

From then on, the game proceeded at a training pace. The Arabs' spirit from the start of the second half quickly dissipated, and the Old Lady let the time pass until the final whistle, which confirmed a rout that could have been even larger had Douglas Luiz not hit the post.