Pep Guardiola will this week attempt to create more history with Manchester City, both for the club and personally, too.
Should the Spaniard lead his side to the Fifa Club World Cup crown in Saudi Arabia on Friday, he will become the first manager to capture the trophy four times – and the first to win it with three different clubs.
City, meanwhile, are looking to add the Club World Cup to their trophy cabinet for the first time. The current European champions, debuting in the tournament, have already won the Premier League, Uefa Champions League, FA Cup and Uefa Super Cup this year.
Here, we cast our minds back to Guardiola’s three Club World Cup successes thus far, as City enter the 2023 tournament in Jeddah at the semi-final stage on Tuesday, against Japan’s Urawa Red Diamonds.
2009 – Abu Dhabi
With the UAE hosting the Club World Cup for the first time, Barcelona came into the tournament chasing a historic sixth title in 2009. They entered the competition at the semi-final stage, where they came back from an early goal to defeat Mexico’s Atlante 3-1 at a packed Zayed Sports City. Winger Pedro etched his name into the record books by scoring in six official competitions in the same season. In the final, Barcelona were again forced to come from behind when they went a goal down to Argentina's Estudiantes through Mauro Boselli’s 37th-minute opener.
Pedro proved again to be the man for the grand occasion, though, with the substitute rescuing the match with only a minute remaining by converting Gerard Pique’s flick-on to send the majority of the 43,000-plus crowd wild. Barcelona then clinched the trophy five minutes into the second half of extra time, when Lionel Messi chested home a Dani Alves cross to see off his compatriots at the death. Barcelona had a first Club World Cup crown and a sixth title in the calendar year, eclipsing Liverpool’s five-trophy haul from 2001. Guardiola was reduced to tears, saying afterwards: “At half time I told my players they had to be strong, that you have to dig deep to win finals like this. To win six successive titles is unthinkable. We've had the best year in the history of this club."
2011 – Japan
Again, Barcelona landed in the tournament as European champions and thus began their campaign for a second Club World Cup success at the semi-final stage. There, they swept past Qatar’s Al Sadd, defeating the Asian champions 4-0 at the International Stadium in Yokohama. Adriano struck twice, with Seydou Keita and Maxwell also on the scoresheet.
The Brazilian theme would continue through to the final, with Barcelona taking on Copa Libertadores holders Santos. It just so happened to pit against one another Lionel Messi, widely regarded the world’s best player, and Neymar, the young pretender tipped to one day emulate the Argentine.
But there was only one winner from that particular duel. Messi struck both the opener and the game’s final goal, with Xavi and Cesc Fabregas scoring in between, to give Barcelona a second successive 4-0 victory and a second Club World Cup title in three years. The Spanish side, and Guardiola, appeared at the apex of their powers with their manager agreeing, describing their displays in Japan as our “all-time peak”.
“My players were like artists,” he said after the final. “Whatever they envisaged in their minds, they were able to do on the pitch. It was an incredible performance.”
2013 – Morocco
Now in charge of Bayern Munich – he joined the German giants only a few months before – Guardiola was tasked with masterminding Club World Cup success for a second team, this time as Morocco staged the event for the first time.
The European champions joined the tournament in North Africa in the last four, and quickly set about dispatching 2013 Asian Champions League winners Guangzhou Evergrande a couple of days after they touched down. Franck Ribery, Mario Mandzukic and Mario Gotze scored in the 3-0 win at Stade Adrar in Agadir, with all three goals coming in a seven-minute spell either side of half time.
In the final, Bayern would meet host Raja Casablanca, who had upset Atletico Mineiro – former Barcelona star Ronaldinho represented for the Brazilians – in the previous match. Guardiola had warned his players they would be “playing against an entire country”, and they seemed to take heed, racing to a two-goal lead within the first 22 minutes. Two Brazilians got on the scoresheet at Stade de Marrakech: defender Dante and midfield teammate Thiago Alcantara.
The score stayed at 2-0, clinching Bayern a first global crown and fifth overall in 2013.
Afterwards, Guardiola heaped praise on his players, saying: "Five titles in one year is a great achievement for Bayern. They have won those titles because of the great players here. [The Club World Cup] is something that have never won before and now they have it."
Club World Cup’s most successful coaches in titles
Pep Guardiola: 2009, 2011, 2013
Carlo Ancelotti: 2007, 2014, 2022
Zinedine Zidane: 2016, 2017
