City were beaten 4-3 by Saudi Pro League side Al-Hilal in the round of 16
Pep Guardiola has said it is “a pity” that Manchester City were knocked out of the Club World Cup after “doing well” in the tournament.
City were knocked out by Al-Hilal in a dramatic last-16 tie that ended 4-3 in extra-time and robbed the Premier League side of the chance to claim even a summer trophy after a poor 2024-25 campaign that saw them finish without silverware for the first time in seven years.
In an entertaining contest in Orlando, City took an early lead but were ultimately out-fought and outscored by a bold and relentless Al-Hilal team, with Marcos Leonardo’s 112th-minute goal proving decisive.
“At this stage, they are all difficult games,” said Guardiola. “We allowed them to create transitions but we created a lot and in general we were good.
“It’s a pity. We were in such a good place and I cannot say thank you enough to the staff, how they train and prepare, they have given everything. We made a lot of actions and [Yassine] Bounou made incredible saves. Nothing else to say.”
Despite the disappointment of exiting the tournament much earlier than they or anyone expected, Guardiola said he had “the feeling that the team is doing well”.
“We would have loved to have continued, it is only here every four years,” said Guardiola. “But now we go home, it’s time to rest, refresh our mind and come back next season.”
City’s elimination means they can now go on holiday, before shifting attention back to pre-season planning. Guardiola was asked whether the performance in the US offered any indication of what is to come for the Sky Blues in the Premier League next season.
“It is too early to say,” said Guardiola. “But there have been so many good things I did not see in the past. The relationship between the players, our captain [Silva] helped a lot and the standards from our staff.
“I felt we were happy here, the training sessions have been really good. Al-Hilal has a lot of quality. They are a complete team that can run and run. I have a big opinion of them but we did a good game.”
