Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City “closed a chapter” by beating Fluminense 4-0 to win the Club World Cup, paying tribute to the players and staff who have contributed to a dominant seven-and-a-half-year tenure.
City have now won every major trophy available to them under Guardiola, including five in this calendar year. Guardiola’s emotional summation of the journey here briefly bred thoughts that he was hinting at having reached the end of the road, but the manager emphasised his motivation remains as high as ever and that “beautiful histories” are still to be created by his players.
“We had the feeling we would close the chapter, we won all the titles, there’s nothing else to win,” he said. “I had a feeling the job was done, it was over.
“Enzo [Maresca] helped us to win the treble, Mikel [Arteta] in my staff, all the players from day one. Vincent [Kompany] to Kyle [Walker] as captains, all the players helped us to achieve something incredible to be here and to play this tournament. Now it’s Christmas time, buy another book and start to write it again. The last eight years, it’s over.”
City will return immediately to England and prepare for an important Premier League match on Wednesday at Everton. “It’s unbelievable what we have done,” Guardiola continued. “Today we celebrate on the plane, tomorrow rest, try to buy a new book and start to write beautiful histories.
“The players out there are still hungry and motivated. I’m really pleased for many people in the club. It’s a beautiful, beautiful day, I could never think when we arrived in Manchester that we could do this and finish with the [Club] World Cup.”
Julián Álvarez, a two-goal hero for City in the final, was a World Cup winner with Argentina last year and reflected on a whirlwind year. “Truth be told, I have achieved the most important titles you can win as a player at the age of only 23,” he said. “My wish is to keep on doing the same and try to win them all again, as the feeling is beautiful and I will do my best to do it all again.”
One concern for City may lie in the fitness of Rodri, who was influential as ever in Jeddah but looked in discomfort when being substituted in the 74th minute after a heavy challenge from the Fluminense player Alexsander. “It was a scare,” Guardiola said of what appeared to be a knock on the right knee. “We’ll see in the next days how he reacts.”
