Pep Guardiola makes Club World Cup admission and hails Johann Cruyff influence

Daily Mirror

a day ago

Manchester City will kick off their Club World Cup campaign next week when they take on Moroccan club Wydad AC in Philadelphia and Pep Guardiola has delivered his verdict on the tournament
Pep Guardiola admits he will not know whether Manchester City can win the Club World Cup until after they arrive in the United States. City boss Guardiola goes to the new-look 32 team tournament on the back of a frustrating season when they surrendered their Premier League title, lost the FA Cup final and crashed out of the Champions League.
But they do have the chance to make amends by winning the trophy and also pocketing the £97m jackpot for the winners from the overall £775m prize money.
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They have already spent over £100m ahead of the Club World Cup after bringing in AC Milan midfielder Tijjani Reijnders for £46.5m, plus they signed Rayan Ait-Nouri, Marcus Bettinelli and Rayan Cherki in another massive purge.
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It also signals the end of the road for Jack Grealish and Kyle Walker who were not included in the squad and will be allowed to leave this summer after a turbulent year. And with that in mind, Guardiola admitted that he never knows quite how any tournament or season will go until they get underway.
Guardiola said: 'We'll see how we arrive in that tournament all together, and after, we see what happens. Normally, when I start a competition like, for example, the Premier League, I never start by thinking: 'Oh, we're going to win, we have to win.'
'So, one step at a time, however we arrive there, we will try to play better than we played that season.' City kick off against AC Wydad next Wednesday in Philadelphia while they also play Al Ain and Italian giants Juventus in their Group.
It will be scorching temperatures in the US and a warm-up for some of City's England stars ahead of next year's World Cup. FIFA hope the new-look competition will capture the imagination and Guardiola also admitted that he is relishing the chance to go to the United States to see different fans from around the world.
The Catalan boss also claimed that seeing different places and meeting new people has been instrumental throughout his career - starting with his mentor Johan Cruyff.
Guardiola said: 'Of course, we grew up in a supportive fanbase from the last decade and we're really proud because the people enjoyed in the past watching us play, and, of course, with pre-seasons in Asia, sometimes in America, you see a lot of blue shirts in the stands and following in the towns and asking for autographs and pictures with our players. So that makes us so proud.
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'It's happening today in football even in domestic leagues, there are different managers, different cultures and different ways to play. So, of course, you're playing against a team from Oceania, from Asia, from South America. It's a new one, that's why it's football, right? It's not always the same style, it's different visions and different types of players, cultures.
'The influence of my previous managers have opened my mind, especially my mentor, Johann Cruyff for opening my mind and vision of the way to play. I'm pretty sure without the influence for Johann Cruyff in my career as a football player, how difficult it would've been to become a manager.
'When people say now that one manager developed that player better than another manager, that is not true, because the team and the ecosystem that you can create and the way they can play all together, rises or increases the quality of that player. There are few who alone can change things. The other one needs the team – by himself it is nothing.'