Would Club World Cup Glory Make Up For Man City’s Bad Season?

Manchester City has so far avoided the upsets experienced by many of its European peers at the 2025 Club World Cup. While Chelsea suffered a 3-1 defeat to Flamengo and Paris Saint-Germain was toppled by Botafogo, Pep Guardiola’s side coasted to a comfortable 2-0 win over Wydad in its opening fixture at the tournament.

City can back this up with another victory over Al Ain on Sunday. Three points against the opponents from the United Arab Emirates would almost certainly secure its passage through to the Club World Cup quarter-finals with Manchester City among the favourites to go all the way and get its hands on the trophy.

Guardiola is in the midst of a rebuild after a disappointing 2024/25 season. Manchester City was never a serious part of the Premier League title race and also suffered an early exit from the Champions League. The shock defeat to Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final compounded a dismal campaign by City’s usual high standards.

A glimpse of that rebuild was offered in the 2-0 win over Wydad when Rayan Cherki and Tijani Reijnders both started. Manchester City remains a work-in-progress, but has shown enough to suggest it could win the first expanded Club World Cup. According to Guardiola, though, this wouldn’t make up for what unfolded last term.

“I said many times, the season was not good,” said Guardiola when asked about his Club World Cup aims. “When you finish third in the Premier League to qualify for the Champions League, it means 70 teams were worse than us. We played the FA Cup final in an incredibly high level against a really good team. The disappointment was the Champions League, we did not do really good. It was tough to handle it.

“Winning this competition is not going to change that but my mindset at the moment is not about winning the competition. We can extend our time here, being here longer. For the South American teams, the competition may be the maximum. For European teams, it is [just] a World Cup.”

Guardiola is right to point out that the true measure of his Manchester City rebuild won’t be taken at the Club World Cup. Nonetheless, success this summer would point the team in the right direction again ahead of the 2025/26 season when City will be expected to compete in the Premier League and Champions League again. This could set the tone.