Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has laid emphasis on the need for his players to rest after they suffered a shock exit to Al-Hilal at the ongoing FIFA Club World Cup tournament.
In one of the competition’s biggest upsets, the Saudi Premier League side stunned the former English Premier League champions 4-3 after extra-time.
Speaking after the defeat, Guardiola expressed disappointment at the result, with attention now focused on the commencement of the upcoming campaign.
Check this: Man City dumped out of CWC by Al-Hilal
“We would have loved to have continued, [You are] only here once every four years. We had a feeling that the team is doing well, but we go home and now it’s time to rest and rest our minds for the new season”, the Spaniard said.
“The vibe was really good. I cannot thank Manchester City enough and especially the players for training and how they have been playing. The margins are minimal.”
Man City took an early lead through captain Bernando Silva and were only prevented from adding to their tally through brilliant saves by Al-Hilal’s Yassine Bounou.
The Asian side equalized after the interval through Marcos Leonardo before taking the lead when Malcolm struck after a quick counterattack.
Erling Haaland pulled City back moments later and with no further goals, the game headed into extra-time.
Former Chelsea defender Kalidou Koulibaly gave Al-Hilal the lead once again before Phil Foden pulled one back for the Cityzens.
However, Marcos Leonardo grabbed his second of the game and Al-Hilal’s fourth to complete the turnaround and move the Asia side to the next phase where they will face Brazilian side Fluminense.
In the end we have to score and be clinical,” Guardiola said. “They did not create much in the first half, we did but could not finish it. I had a feeling we could go through. We allow them to make transitions [but] we created a lot.
Read here: Guardiola fears CWC could physically drain Man City
So many good things I did not see in the past. The relationship between the players, our captain [Bernardo Silva] helped a lot and the standards with staff”, he continued.
“I felt we were happy here, the training sessions have been really good but the level of this competition is the World Cup.”
Man City begin will begin their 2025-26 league campaign with a trip to Wolves on the 16th of August.
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