A little more than six months after winning the Champions League, the English club Manchester City won the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia on Friday against the Brazilian team Fluminense. A victory taking the Citizens to the roof of the world.
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Manchester City added a new line to its record by winning its first club world championship at the expense of Fluminense (4-0), Friday December 22, in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia), where coach Pep Guardiola won a fourth title unprecedented in the competition.
The Spanish technician had already been crowned with FC Barcelona (2009, 2011) and Bayern Munich (2013).
The European champion, which passed under the Emirati flag in 2008, succeeds Real Madrid, five-time winner of this club world championship which was in its twentieth edition.
The two teams, victorious in the semi-finals against the Japanese Urawa Reds (3-0) for City and the Egyptians Al-Ahly (2-0) for “Flu”, were in the final for their very first participation.
And on Friday, there was no need to be late at the King Abdullah Stadium as the English champions opened the scoring after just… 40 seconds of play!
Taking advantage of a poor recovery in the axis of the veteran and former Real Madrid, Marcelo, the Dutchman Nathan Ake placed a curling shot on the goal post of Fabio (43 years old) and the ball returned to the Argentinian Julian Alvarez who followed and scored with his chest.
The Brazilian team of coach Fernando Diniz, also coach of the Seleção, believed to benefit from a penalty in the 16th minute for a foul by the Brazilian goalkeeper of Manchester City, Ederson, on German Cano, but the latter was reported off-side.
On the contrary, it was the English club who doubled the score in the 27th minute, with an own goal from Nino. The central defender and captain indeed deflected a cross from Phil Foden into his goal, which had been superbly cleared by Rodri, voted best player of the tournament at the end of the match.
Without Erling Haaland or Kevin De Bruyne
Two other goals were scored in the second half by the clearly dominant English, by Phil Foden (72nd) and Julian Alvarez at the end of the match for a personal double (88th).
“We faced the best team in the world over the last five years,” Brazilian coach Fernando Diniz said. “The team tried to play under a lot of pressure and came through most of the time. Congratulations to the players who lost against a great team.”
Manchester City, who were playing without their injured key men Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Jérémy Doku, have played five matches in twelve days, or one every three days since December 10.
A hellish pace for the Citizens, authors of a resounding quadruple last season: Champions League, FA Cup, English Championship and UEFA Super Cup. “I’m very happy, I feel like we’ve closed a chapter,” said Pep Guardiola. “We have won all the titles, the job is done, it’s over.”
Manchester City also confirmed European domination in this club world. Since 2012, no trophy has escaped the representative of the Old Continent, certainly always more financially powerful.
The last South American club to have registered its name in the winners of this world is the rival of “Flu”, the Corinthians of São Paulo, winner of Chelsea (1-0) in Yokohama in December 2012.
For its next edition, in the United States in the summer of 2025, the Club World Cup will change format and go from seven to thirty-two teams, and will be played every four years.
Earlier in the third-place match, Egypt’s Al-Ahly beat Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds 4-2.
With AFP
