Pep Guardiola warns Manchester City squad they cannot take Club World Cup for granted | OneFootball

Manchester City cannot get ahead of themselves and need to stay on their toes when they travel to the United States to participate in the Club World Cup between June and July, Pep Guardiola has said.

City will feature in the 32-club tournament and represent the Premier League alongside Chelsea as Guardiola’s side prepare for the new season, giving the Blues another opportunity to claim silverware after reaching the FA Cup final last weekend.

Goals from Rico Lewis and Josko Gvardiol helped Manchester City to a 2-0 win over Nottingham Forest in the FA Cup semi-final as the 2023 treble winners edge closer to an eighth FA Cup title in the club’s history.

After failing to challenge for the Premier League title for only the second time since Guardiola was appointed manager in 2016, Manchester City can do with every bit of competitive football to earn their spark back ahead of the new campaign.

“We will see how we finish the season and see how we arrive in that tournament together and then we will see what happens. Normally whenever I start a competition for example like the Premier League, never do I start thinking ‘Oh, we are going to win etc’,” Guardiola said in an in-house club interview.

“So, one step at a time, try to play better than we played in the league, arrive in better conditions everyone and after we see. What’s happening today in football, even in domestic leagues, there are different managers, different cultures, different styles and ways to play and of course you play teams from Oceania, Asia, South America.”

City take on Wolves in the Premier League this weekend and Guardiola will know the importance of taking one game at a time as his side look to continue their rich vein of form and take one step towards qualification for next season’s UEFA Champions League.

Josko Gvardiol has stressed on the importance of the Club World Cup in Manchester City’s preparations for the 2025-26 season and has called on his teammates to give the competition the respect it deserves when City do fly out to the United States in June.

Guardiola added: “It (Club World Cup) is a new one and that’s why its football, right? It’s not always the same style, it’s different visions, different types of players, that’s culture so that’s nice.”

Manchester City have a big summer ahead and have been allowed by the Premier League to register new signings for a 10-day period between 1-10 June – before they begin their Club World Cup campaign – when they will come up against Wydad AC, Al Ain and Juventus to begin with.