Ilkay Gundogan fired a pointed warning to Manchester City’s stars by insisting that a lingering sluggishness must be eradicated if they are to reach the latter stages of the Club World Cup.
City hammered Al Ain 6-0 to seal qualification to the knockout stages but a failure to net a seventh means Juventus are top of Group G on goals scored going into their meeting on Thursday.
Whoever finishes second is likely to face Real Madrid in the last 16 and Gundogan believes City have been too sloppy over their opening two fixtures in the tournament.