Without discussion. Last Friday, Manchester City became world club champions for the first time in its history by beating Brazilians Fluminense, winners of the Copa Libertadores, 4-0 in a match played at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia . .
With Rúben Dias and Bernardo Silva in the eleven and Matheus Nunes as a substitute, the citizens opened the score after 40 seconds through the Argentinian Julian Álvarez, who led the attack in the absence of star Erling Haaland. England’s superiority was total and the second goal came naturally in the 28th minute, when centre-back Nino deflected Phil Foden’s cross into his own goal. Two more goals followed in the second half, with Foden scoring the third from a pass from Julian Álvarez, who finished the scoring with a shot from outside the penalty area.
Fluminense can thank their goalkeeper Fábio, who prevented the result from expanding even further. City ended the match with fifteen shots, eight of which were blocked and one hit the posts, while the team from Rio de Janeiro only made five shots. two of which were in the goal, saved by Ederson Moraes.
The team coached by Pep Guardiola, including the Portuguese Rúben Dias, Matheus Nunes and Bernardo Silva, ended a dream year 2023 in the best possible way, in which they have already won the Premier League, the FA Cup, the League of Champions. and the European Super Cup, something that an English team had never achieved in the history of football.
Manchester City was the 32nd club to write its name on the list of world champions (including the winners of the Intercontinental Cup), but still far from Real Madrid, the great dominator with eight trophies won, twice as many as AC Milan and Bayern Munich, which appears in second place.
The victory also finally crowned Spain’s Pep Guardiola, who at the age of 52 became the coach with the most club world champion titles and won his fourth trophy, one more than Italian Carlo Ancelotti. The coach, who is in his eighth season at Manchester City, won the league with Barcelona (2009 and 2011) and with Bayern Munich (2013). Guardiola won the 37th title in his coaching history against Fluminese and consolidated himself in second place in a ranking led by Scot Alex Ferguson with 49 trophies won. It should be noted that in third place is Romanian Mircea Lucescu, with 35.
Fluminense, which had won its first South American championship title on November 4 with the conquest of the Copa Libertadores, at the Maracanã Stadium, against Boca Juniors, cherished the dream of winning an unprecedented trophy in its museum and that has escaped Brazilian clubs since 2012. , when Corinthians surprisingly defeated Chelsea 1-0. That year was in fact the last time a European team failed to lift the trophy. The Brazilian disappointment was joined by that of left back Marcelo, who at the age of 35 tried to emulate Cristiano Ronaldo, Modric, Nacho, Benzema and Carvajal in the group of five-time world champion footballers.
It should also be noted that Al Ahly’s Egyptians finished the Club World Cup in third place for the fourth time in their history after beating Japan’s Urawa Reds Diamonds 4-2.
Source: DN
