Lacklustre Al Ain given harsh lesson in Club World Cup opener after thrashing by Juventus
So confident were Juventus ahead of their Club World Cup opener against Al Ain, they had spent the eve of the game at the White House having an audience with President Donald Trump.
If shooting the breeze with the leader of the United States was a distraction from the matters at hand, then it did not show, as they dominated the side from the UAE.
Randal Kolo Muani, Juve's French striker, led the way as the Italian side crushed an out-of-sorts Al Ain 5-0.
It was the sort of result that many beyond the Emirates might have expected. But the club from the Garden City – who had reached the final of the previous guise of the Club World Cup back in 2018 – had expected much better.
Al Ain had talked about competing with the best ahead of the tournament. They cited the fact they had beaten Juventus once before, and an even more starry line up than the current side.
In 2003 they had won a mid-season friendly against a Juve side that included players like Gianluigi Buffon, Alessandro Del Piero, Edgar Davids and Pavel Nedved.
They might also have been cheered by a result from earlier in the day that struck a blow for Middle East football. Al Hilal had held mighty Real Madrid to a draw in their opening game.
Al Ain had beaten Al Hilal on their way to qualification for the Club World Cup, knocking them out at the semi-final stage of the 2024 AFC Champions League.
But when it came to it, they were entirely lacklustre. They were 4-0 down by half time and it looked alarmingly as though they might suffer the same fate as the part-timers from Auckland City, who shipped double figures against Bayern Munich in their opener.
Al Ain had made five changes from the final game of their Pro League campaign, which was a 2-0 win against Al Nasr in Dubai nearly a month ago.
Although they had a lengthy lead in from then till the start of the tournament, their prep was disjointed. Three of their key players had arrived late in America, having been on international duty with the UAE.
Only one of them – centre back Kouame Autonne – made the starting XI. Khalid Essa, the club captain, and Yahia Nader, the influential midfield metronome, were both conspicuous by their absence.
Essa has been a mainstay in goal for over a decade for club and country, so it was jarring to see Rui Patricio in his place between the posts.
Patricio has had a long and auspicious career with clubs like Sporting Lisbon, Wolverhampton Wanderers and Roma, as well as over 100 caps for Portugal.
But his short-term switch to Al Ain for the Club World Cup is the sort of deal which critics argue undermines the competition.
He might have international renown, but Essa is part of the fabric of Al Ain. As a side note on the same issue, there were no Emirati players in the starting XI.
And in sporting terms, Patricio might as well not have been there for all the impact he made.
Playing in the sky blue more readily associated with Al Ain's next opponents, Manchester City, rather than their trademark black and white stripes, Juventus were a class above from the start.
Kolo Muani started the scoring in the 11th minute and added a second in stoppage time at the end of the first half. He was denied the chance of a hat-trick when he was withdrawn to make way for Dusan Vlahovic in the second half.
Francisco Conceicao also scored two, while Kenan Yildiz, the Turkish playmaker, also got a goal his performance deserved.
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