Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is already the king of the world. The blue team, champion of the Champions League, rounded off a perfect year with its first club World Cup, its fifth title of the season, after the Premier, the FA Cup, the European crown and the Continental Super Cup – against Sevilla -. It is the 37th title for the Santpedor player as a coach. Fluminense, winner of the Libertadores, was no match for the English in the final played in Jeddah (Saudi Arabia): in half an hour City already had the trophy in its pocket.
By statistics and by tradition, the successful Manchester team had every chance to win the unofficial title of best team in the world: in the last 10 years the Champions League champion had always won the final. The last to break European superiority was Corinthians – with the future Blaugrana Paulinho in their ranks – who beat a powerful Chelsea from 2012 led by Rafa Benítez (with Mata, Torres, Lampard, Hazard, Cole, David Luiz, Cech… .) by 1-0.
It could serve as a warning to Guardiola, although the Catalan coach was more than struggling in these matters. He had already won the title three times, with Barça (2009, 2011), with Bayern (2013) and now he is the first coach to win the Mundialito with three different teams, in addition to becoming the coach with the most World Cups ( 4), surpassing Carlo Ancelotti.
And although his current City was immersed in one of the worst streaks of results – and a more than questionable game –, with an inappropriate streak of just one victory in the last six Premier League games (one defeat and four draws since 12 November), the light blue team was far superior in football terms to the Brazilians. Even without being able to count on three basic props like Håland Doku and De Bruyne.
An authority that City imposed right from the start, at 39 seconds, with a goal with the heart of Julián Álvarez. The Argentine forward, the offensive reference of the light blue team, finished with his chest a ball that bounced off a post after a powerful shot from outside the area by Nathan Aké. The winger converted a bad pass from former Real Madrid player Marcelo into an opportunity by taking the ball on the Brazilian left wing.
With the wind in their favor from the early 1-0, City were able to consolidate their dominance, play and go on the counterattack when it suited them. From a fabulous pass with a slingshot from Rodri, the 2-0 was born. The Madrid midfielder, creator of the Champions League in the final in Istanbul against Inter, put a deep ball for Foden, who first placed a cross that captain Nino deflected into the goal in his attempt to clear it by diving to the ground.
In 27 minutes, the citizens already had the final on track with two lethal blows, despite the fact that the Flu woke up and had more of the ball than the Manchester team. Although the clearest chances were provided by Guardiola’s men, who made the veteran goalkeeper Fábio (43) shine with a shot from Grealish (m. 42) or Foden (m. 52).
The sentence, in case the 2-0 was not enough, came in the 72nd minute with a goal from Foden from a center by Julián Álvarez, who received a good pass from Kovacic after taking advantage of a ball lost by the Brazilian defense.
The worst news for Manchester City was the injury to Rodri, who was tackled behind by Alexsander and hurt his right knee. The Madrid native had to be replaced with signs of concern.
When the game was dying, Julián Álvarez rounded off the win with a 4-0 scoreline, with a feint and a shot placed from the edge of the area.
It was the only stain in a placid final for City, which signs its first quintet in its history in a dream 2023.
