Manchester City hammers Al Ain in Club World Cup in Atlanta

Al Ain, from the United Arab Emirates, can’t advance to the knockout rounds. It will face Morocco’s Wydad, which also can’t advance, on Thursday.

Asking Al Ain, a tournament longshot because of its roster’s $54 million total transfer value, to keep the match close against Manchester City, one of the world’s richest and in recent years most successful clubs because of its roster’s $1.5 billion total transfer value, would have been a tough ask. Haaland alone has a transfer value of $207 million, according to transfermarkt.us, to put the challenge Al Ain faced into a skill and financial perspective.

Manchester City needed less than eight minutes to take a 1-0 lead when Gündoğan chipped a shot toward the back post and over Al Ain goalkeeper Eisa Khalid. The sequence started with a corner kick.

Manchester City increased its lead to 2-0 in the 27th minute with a free kick to the near post by Echeverri from 22 yards.

Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol hit the side post with a header in the 32nd minute, also from a corner kick.

Haaland put a right-footed shot wide of the far post in the 41st minute.

Haaland got his goal in the fifth minute of first-half stoppage time with a left-footed penalty kick struck into the lower right corner. The kick was given after referee Mustapha Ghorbal, after a review, judged that Rabia Ramy pulled down Manuel Akanji in the penalty box while defending a corner kick in the second minute of stoppage time.

Gündoğan beat two Al Ain players to score from seven yards away in the 73rd minute.

Bobb’s goal came on a left-footed shot into the near corner in the 84th minute. Cherki’s came with a right-footed shot in the 89th minute.

The announced attendance of 40,392 brought Atlanta’s three-match group stage total to 94,312.