Pep Guardiola had hyped this occasion as the chance of a lifetime. Manchester City grasped it and now sit atop the globe, their era of dominance crowned by the one frontier they had yet to conquer. Like their semi-final win over Urawa Reds, this dismissal of Fluminense was light on jeopardy and the fact European sides have won the Club World Cup’s past 11 editions raises its own questions about the sport’s direction. But City were not about to trouble themselves with that: the past week has had the added effect of a palate cleanser from their domestic travails and served as a reminder that theirs remains the standard to reach.
“The best team in the land and all the world” read a banner that immediately lit up on the side of the Etihad Stadium, more than 3,000 miles away, echoing one of their faithful’s favoured hymns. Now it can be sung without a hint of irony or pretension. City are masters of the frictionless, ice-blooded victory and it said plenty that the only real tension on a sweltering night came after the final whistle when Felipe Melo, one of several blasts from the past in Fluminense’s lineup, engaged Kyle Walker in a scrap that briefly spread to other players and officials from both sides.
Melo had been spoiling for a fight ever since the game started getting firmly away from an enterprising Fluminense, who responded promisingly to conceding through Julián Álvarez within a minute but had little hope of keeping the score down. City cruised home, Álvarez completing the rout late on to cap his own exceptional haul. He was a world champion with Argentina almost exactly a year ago and, still only 23, will need a hall full of trophy cabinets at this rate. He points the way for South American products such as the vaunted midfielder André, who showed some neat touches for Fluminense.
Gianni Infantino took the stage to present City with their silverware. He has bequeathed this sport a longstanding relationship with Saudi Arabia and, as fireworks erupted over the stadium and light rain broke the stifling heat, it was hard not wonder how the country will have evolved as a destination when it hosts the World Cup in 2034. The stadium, comfortable enough but difficult to access from Jeddah’s city centre, was not quite full and there will be intense scrutiny on numerous fronts when full details of the Saudi bid are presented next year.
One day there will be heavy attention, too, on the 115 charges of breaching Premier League financial rules that continue to hang over City’s achievements. But Guardiola’s side could only play the game demanded of them here and pulled ahead 39 seconds after kick-off. If Fluminense were to present their opponents with an early opening they could surely not have expected it to be the former Real Madrid legend Marcelo, aiming to win this competition for the fifth time, who showed the largesse.
It was the veteran’s ill-advised pass, wafted inside to midfield no man’s land from his left-back position, that fell Nathan Aké’s way and the chance to shoot was too enticing to pass up. Having carried the ball forward the full-back measured a 25-yard effort against the inside of Fábio’s post; via a flick off the 43-year-old keeper it fell perfectly for the recalled Álvarez, who belly-flopped the rebound across the line from a matter of yards.
Fluminense are renowned for their daring under Fernando Diniz and for a time caused City problems with bravura moves that, in some cases, began inside their own six-yard box. They compromised for no one and it was to their credit. Had Germán Cano not strayed offside by a shoulder’s width he would have won a penalty from Ederson and given them a chance to equalise. Before half-time the City keeper was required to make a stunning one-handed save from Nino’s header.
Unfortunately for Nino, the centre-back, he had recently made an impact at the wrong end. City had begun to wrest back control of the game and, when Rodri found Phil Foden in yawning space on the left side of Fluminense’s penalty area, danger beckoned. Foden seemed caught between crossing and shooting but his drilled ball became an assist when it snicked off Nino and plopped into Fábio’s far corner.
The game was essentially over, although if Guardiola was splitting hairs he could observe that his side had offered Fluminense more chances to strut their stuff than he might have wished. There was no such criticism in the second half, Foden immediately demanding two saves from Fábio and City assuming the total control that had worn Urawa down. Eighteen minutes from the end Álvarez centred hard, meaningfully, from the left and a dashing Foden converted emphatically. With a raking low drive near the end, he applied the final gloss.
Thus City were crowned and the life of this curious seven-team tournament drew to a close. From 2025 it will take seven games and a full month if they want to finish at the head of a 32-strong field. Such a preposterous summer schedule makes it in effect a new challenge to negotiate but, for now, City are the side that have it all.
