Pep Guardiola has urged Manchester City to win the “once in a lifetime” Club World Cup title.
City earned a comfortable 3-0 victory against Urawa Red Diamonds in their semi-final clash in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia.
The Japanese side produced an impressive defensive display for much of the first half, but the deadlock was broken just before the break by a Marius Hoibraten own goal.
City had two more goals by the 60th minute, with both Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva on the scoresheet.
“We didn’t win it [before] – it’s the first time Manchester City are here,” Guardiola said. “This is the last step – a title the club doesn’t have, so we’ll go for it.
“To play this final you have to have done incredible things – mainly to win the Champions League. Once we are here, maybe it is a trophy we play for once in a lifetime.
“It’s against Fluminense, a South American team, experienced, with a lot of quality. I saw yesterday how good they are.
“But we are there. Tomorrow we will start to see Fluminense and try to do a good performance and win the title.”
Guardiola has won the Club World Cup twice before, doing so with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
City’s star striker Erling Haaland has been ruled out of the tournament with a foot injury, but the side will still be considered the favourites going into their encounter against Fluminense.
This year’s Club World Cup is the last before the tournament is expanded to 32 teams in 2025, including 12 sides from Europe.
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