Pep Guardiola is hoping to “close the circle” and lead Manchester City to a full complement of trophies by winning the FIFA Club World Cup.
City have claimed every title available since the Catalan took over in 2016, culminating in Champions League success in June.
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The win over Inter in Istanbul meant they qualified for the FIFA showpiece – staged in Saudi Arabia – for the first time and Guardiola is eager to put their domestic struggles behind them and claim yet more silverware.
Speaking ahead of tomorrow’s semi-final against AFC Champions League winners Urawa Reds, he said: “It’s an honour to be here. It is the first time Manchester City have been here and we don’t take it for granted, we take it as a privilege.
“To be here, you have to have done something exceptional in the past.
“It is the fourth time I have been here [as a coach] and each time the semi-final was tough. But it’s a trophy we don’t have and [we’d like to win] to close the circle of winning every trophy we could win.
“You have a responsibility to win all the competitions. We know how difficult it is to play this competition, maybe it’s a once in a lifetime. We are going to try to perform well tomorrow.”
PEP 💬 We know how hard it is to win this competition and you have to have done something special in the past… It’s difficult to win here and the players know this. That’s why we want to play well tomorrow.#CLUBWC PIC.TWITTER.COM/TMIYHPODA1
— Manchester City (@ManCity) DECEMBER 18, 2023
City have won just one of their last six Premier League games and will fall eight points behind leaders Arsenal should the Gunners win at Liverpool at the weekend.
Guardiola maintains City’s recent performances have merited more but is happy to park all thoughts of the Premier League until after Christmas.
“It’s a different competition,” he added. “Whatever happens here, things will be different when we get back to the UK.
“We would have preferred better results but, apart from the Aston Villa game, the performances have been excellent in many cases.
“We have to improve how we finish games, be more aware of what you have to do in certain moments. But hopefully we can maintain our levels of passion and desire, with and without the ball, against Urawa.”
