Manchester City’s reserves crush Al Ain in 6-0 rout, set up decisive group finale vs. Juventus

ATLANTA — There are flexes, and then there’s the “swapping out your entire lineup and still annihilating the opposition” flex. Manchester City rolled out a completely new lineup on Sunday night against UAE’s Al Ain, but the result was the same as Wednesday’s match against Morocco’s Wydad AC: a 6-0 victory, a second straight clean sheet, a path straight into the Club World Cup’s knockout stage … and a definitive statement of just how dangerous City will be in the coming months.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has the luxury of being able to run out two entire sides in this tournament, both of which clearly could advance deep into the tournament on their own. He took full advantage of his embarrassment of riches — both monetary and roster-wise — to put City in position to overwhelm the overmatched Al Ain from the opening minutes of the match.

The result was everything that the delirious, heavily City crowd at Mercedes-Benz Stadium could have wanted … and, not coincidentally, everything that FIFA hopes the Club World Cup can be. This was one of the world’s premier sides operating at full, relentless effect, and the crowd inside the stadium, while nowhere near sellout territory, was nonetheless the loudest and most engaged of Atlanta’s three matches to date.