Against Al Ain, City were ruthless.
Gündoğan controlled the match completely from midfield and scored twice, one in each half. Echeverri added another before halftime while Haaland converted a penalty just before the break. Oscar Bobb came off the bench to score late, and Cherki capped the performance with a goal near the end in a dominant 6–0 victory.
Lukas watched most of the second half seated beside João and Joanna near the team section while club cameras occasionally caught him reacting to goals.
Online, clips of him celebrating with the squad kept spreading everywhere.
The anticipation around his eventual debut kept growing larger by the day.
By the time City traveled to Orlando for the final group-stage match against Juventus, the mood around the squad had shifted completely.
The players looked sharper.
Looser.
More comfortable with each other.
And internally, there was already quiet excitement about finally registering Lukas afterward for the knockout rounds.
