Physical Address
304 North Cardinal St.
Dorchester Center, MA 02124
Pep Guardiola praised Rayan Cherki’s “amazing skills” after his debut in Manchester City World Cup of Clubs on Wydad Casablanca On Wednesday.
Cherki arrived from Lyon this month, as the city quickly added to its workforce after a 2024-25 campaign without a significant trophy. Rayan Ait-Noururi and the midfielder Tijjani Reijnders have also been introduced to Wolves and AC Milan respectively, with Marcus Bettinelli joining Chelsea to increase goal ranks.
Reijnders and Cherki made their arches for the Philadelphia club, as the city began its Club World Cup campaign with a comfortable 2-0 victory.
Cherki played in the middle in front of the Reijnders, but he was largely a peripheral figure in a unilateral contest.
But asked about Cherki’s performance in the context of filling the gap left by Kevin de Bruyne after his departure, Guardiola was not clearly ready to make any sweeping statements after a game.
He told a press conference after the party: “Of course, Kevin is difficult to replace, we know.
“For the quality it has, there is no doubt about it. But at the same time, the club decided on Rayan, it has incredible skills near the box, an incredible vision and pass, it has many things.
“” (Today) was only the first game in very hard condition, but I am very pleased to be here. “”
Talking to Dazn on Kittians and Cherki before, Guardiola said, “It’s good to play. Tijji played very well, Rayan played good times. Everyone has to know us and see what happens.”
Phil Foden’s second goal and a 42 -minute strike from Jeremy Doku gave the city the Group G group points.
But a clear irritation to Guardiola was an 88 -minute red card that was shown in Rico Lewis for a sliding challenge where he got the ball, just to follow and take the Samuel Obeng from Wydad on his face.
It was seen that Guardiola stirred with referee Ramon Abatti after the game, and later said of the decision: “He (Abatti) thought the leg was a bit tall, but he was on the grass. He touched the ball.
“Due to the speed that the ball is going to touch, because Newton’s theory your leg must be a little higher and the other player was down. Rico had no intention.
“Rico is the person who never intends to hurt anyone for his style of play.
“It was unnecessary, honestly, the red card, but the referee had a different opinion and he is the head. They checked Var, so we accept it.”
