5-star Juventus dazzle in big win over Al Ain in Club World Cup opener

 

Juventus swept Al Ain aside to record a 5-0 victory in their first-ever FIFA Club World Cup (CWC) match, doing so against a side who had conceded just one goal in their previous seven games.

The Bianconeri looked bright from the very beginning and established a lead just 11 minutes into proceedings, when a lovely passage of play culminated in Randal Kolo Muani rising to head Alberto Costa’s cross past Rui Patricio.

While Al Ain had shown intent of their own, they struggled to stretch Michele Di Gregorio and conceded again when Francisco Conceicao jinked his way across the six-yard box and hit a shot that deflected in off Ramy Rabia. 

Shortly after Khéphren Thuram saw a shot blocked, the Frenchman offloaded the ball to Kenan Yildiz, who worked enough space to hit an audacious shot from range that went in off the post just after the half-hour mark.

Al Ain showed that they would continue to compete with a marginal offside call denying Rabia a goal two minutes after the restart. Di Gregorio then had to tip Kodjo Laba’s strike over the crossbar, before Weston McKennie fired a wild attempt off-target, and Costa’s shot was blocked at the other end.

However, Juventus were back on the scoresheet in the 58th minute, as Conceição effortlessly glided inside Kouame Kouadio and beat Patrício. The debutant goalkeeper then rushed out to deny Kolo Muani a hat-trick after more scintillating play from Conceicao.