Superb Manchester City beat Fluminense to secure historic Club World Cup triumph

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City not so much completed the circle as cemented it shut.

Cemented their place in history; their manager’s too. A first Fifa Club World Cup crown was theirs on a stifling but relatively straightforward Friday night in Jeddah – Fluminense of Brazil fought off with four unanswered goals.

Club World Cup title No 1 elevated City to five trophies in an astonishing 2023, the English and European champions now officially global supremos, as well.

Surely City sit among the top teams of recent memory. They’re maybe comparable even to the finest of much farther back also.

Once dubbed “Mr Club World Cup” in Germany, success in Saudi Arabia means Guardiola now stands alone as the manager with most titles. This was his fourth, taking him clear of old friend and competitive foe Carlo Ancelotti, adding to the glories masterminded at Barcelona, twice, and Bayern Munich.

Fluminense, really, couldn't compete with that. The emboldened and battle-hardened Brazilians were said to have embraced Friday as perhaps the greatest occasion of the club’s 121-year history. They arrived in the kingdom in the afterglow of an inaugural Copa Libertadores title, sealed last month and setting in motion a shot at arguably the most coveted crown in South American club football.

Their travelling support certainly suggested so; estimates tallied those to have made the trek from Rio de Janeiro to Jeddah as anywhere between 5,000 and 10,000. At an almost sell-out King Abdullah Sports City stadium, although still outnumbered by the City contingent, they made their presence felt.

The best team in the land and all the world!