Pep Guardiola lists the six games that made Man City the best team in the world

Pep Guardiola 'closed a chapter' in his Manchester City story last week after taking the club to the top of the world, but after the seven-and-a-half-year journey to that point he reflected on the pain rather than the glory.

City won the Club World Cup in Saudi Arabia, beating Fluminense 4-0 in Friday's final to complete the set of trophies under Guardiola. It was the 16th major honour he had won while in charge at the Etihad and the fifth in 2023 alone.

The Catalan was in a reflective mood after the triumph at the King Abdullah Sports City Stadium and for one moment during his post-match press conference it felt like he was on the brink of calling it a day. But while he insists he has more to win at City, he did look back on the ride so far ahead of the return of Premier League action on Wednesday.

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And Guardiola believes the driving force that took City to the very top was defeats, rather than victories. He pointed to the pain of six agonising Champions League exits as a factor that helped his team learn about life on the big stage, as well as providing the pain to keep them hungry for more.

"I said to the team, the reason why we are here is not Istanbul, it's not Inter Milan. The reason we are here is Monaco, Liverpool, Tottenham, it's Lyon. It's a final against Chelsea we lost and the last minutes against Madrid," said Guardiola.

"It hurts in that moment but now it doesn't hurt. That helped us and helped us to win against Inter Milan. It's a process. For the big, big clubs they're used to that but for us it was new, to feel we can do it, we believe we can