Pep Guardiola had hyped this occasion as the chance of a lifetime. Manchester City grasped it and now sit atop the globe, their era of dominance crowned by the one frontier they had yet to conquer. Like their semi-final win over Urawa Reds, this dismissal of Fluminense was light on jeopardy and the fact European sides have won the Club World Cup’s past 11 editions raises its own questions about the sport’s direction. But City were not about to trouble themselves with that: the past week has had the added effect of a palate cleanser from their domestic travails and served as a reminder that theirs remains the standard to reach.
“The best team in the land and all the world” read a banner that immediately lit up on the side of the Etihad Stadium, more than 3,000 miles away, echoing one of their faithful’s favoured hymns. Now it can be sung without a hint of irony or pretension. City are masters of the frictionless, ice-blooded victory and it said plenty that the only real tension on a sweltering night came after the final whistle when Felipe Melo, one of several blasts from the past in Fluminense’s lineup, engaged Kyle Walker in a scrap that briefly spread to other players and officials from both sides.
