Rayan Ait Nouri Shines as Manchester City Dominate Juventus

Photo via Manchester City

On a day when Liverpool’s new left-back Milos Kerkez made headlines after completing his £40m move to the champions from Bournemouth, Manchester City’s new left back Rayan Ait Nouri showed supporters why he was Pep Guardiola’s target with a strong performance in City’s dominant 5-2 Club World Cup win over Juventus.

Manchester City and Juventus met at the Camping World Stadium in Orlando, Florida, to play out the last round of Group G matches in the 2025 FIFA Club World Cup. Both sides confirmed their place in the knockout rounds with easy victories over the other two group members, Al-Ain and Wydad Casablanca, before facing each other in the tournament's first real marquee match. The loser was expected to face Real Madrid in the round of 16.

Manchester City forced Juventus back into their box early, the Italian side parking all ten outfield players in a low block. Ait Nouri fashioned the first chance of the game in the fourth minute after receiving the ball from Jeremy Doku outside the box. The former Wolves man sent his defender the wrong way with a cut inside before driving to the byline and floating a cross to the back post for Bernardo Silva, whose header forced a fine save from goalkeeper Michele Di Gregorio.

The pressure continued from there. Just five minutes later, Ait Nouri played a perfectly weighted through ball to Doku, who timed his run well off Alberto Costa’s back shoulder. One touch inside was all he needed before finishing hard into the bottom right corner.

Despite conceding an equalizer after Ederson sloppily gave the ball away from a goalkick, City soon fell into a traditional Pep Guardiola rhythm, dominating possession and patiently building attacks through the midfield. City quickly took back the lead in the 25th minute from an unfortunate Kalulu own goal, but Juventus offered little resistance.

Ait Nouri almost added his name to the score sheet a few minutes before half time, when Savinho's cross dropped to him just outside the Juventus box. The Algerian struck the ball into the pitch on the volley, the bouncing shot forcing another good save from Di Gregorio.

Tactically, Ait Nouri played his role perfectly, holding back when Matheus Nunes pushed forward on the right side to ensure City still had three in defense, and pushing up behind Doku when needed to link play between the wing and the midfield.

The threat Ait Nouri offered with the ball also forced the Juventus defense to mark him more tightly, which in turn allowed Doku, who won man of the match, more space. The Belgian cut in on several occasions as Ait Nouri provided an additional option to his left.

While defensively he wasn’t tested, on the few occasions Juventus did manage to break out of their half, he quickly recovered to provide support for Akanji and Ruben Dias.

Much is being made of the improvements Arne Slott is making to his Liverpool side, but Manchester City’s signings are quickly embedding themselves into Pep Guardiola's team and look to have added a much-needed boost to the side that struggled last year. Any views that next year's league title is already wrapped up are worth reevaluating.