𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Ilkay Gundogan bemoaned Manchester City’s failure to score seven after thrashing Abu Dhabi side Al Ain 6-0 at the Club World Cup.

Veteran midfielder Gundogan struck twice as City secured their place in the last 16 with a comfortable victory in Atlanta but it was not enough to take them top of Group G.

Their performance lifted them level on points and goal difference with Juventus but it is the Italians who will have the slight edge – courtesy of goals scored – heading into Thursday’s meeting between the two teams in Orlando.

City will now need to beat the Serie A outfit to ensure they avoid a clash with the winners of Real Madrid’s group in the first knockout round.

“It felt like we needed the seventh at the end,” said Gundogan. “We set that as our target at half-time but unfortunately we didn’t start the second half good enough. We were a bit slow.

“It felt like it cost us at the end.”

Manager Pep Guardiola admitted Juve now hold an advantage over his side but played down its significance.

Guardiola said: “With one more goal we would have two options, but we only have one now.

“It would be better but the important thing is we are in the next phase. If you want to go through you have to face top, top teams so it does not matter.

“We see Brazilian teams, European top-class teams. It is no big concern.

“I like that we tried. We spoke at half-time of trying to score as many goals as possible. At the end we had chances to score more but that is fine.

“We played a little bit better than the first game, especially in the second half, but there are some things we have to improve.”

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Guardiola changed his entire XI following their 2-0 win over Wydad Casablanca on Wednesday.

Gundogan opened the scoring with a cross-shot after eight minutes before teenager Claudio Echeverri struck from a free-kick and Erling Haaland tucked away a penalty.

Gundogan capped a fine move to grab the fourth after the break and substitutes Oscar Bobb and Rayan Cherki netted in the closing stages. Other near misses saw Josko Gvardiol head against the post and Phil Foden go close late on.

Gundogan’s performance, coming after reports linking him with Galatasaray, which were downplayed by Guardiola this week, was particularly eye-catching.

Guardiola said of the 34-year-old: “He’s an exceptional player, exceptional in all senses.

“He’s really, really good and made a fantastic goal. He reads what we have to do every game. I’m really pleased.”