Pep Guardiola says Manchester City played like a good team after a long time

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola noted that his side played like a good team after a long time when they defeated Juventus by 5-2 in the FIFA Club World Cup on Thursday. Jérémy Doku, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, Savinho found the back of the net for the Cityzens whereas Pierre Kalulu scored an own goal.

City were not at their best in the recently concluded season but Guardiola reckons they are slowly finding their groove in the USA.

“I liked the way we did it,” Guardiola said.

“It has been a long time since we had a performance like this on and off the ball. The players were committed and we are happy to beat a top side.

“This is just one game, but I think the players felt again what it was like to be a good team. The belief always comes from your performances, not your past.”

The veteran Spaniard said players must have gained confidence after performing at their best level after a long time.

“The players felt for the first time in a long, long time we performed the way we perform,” said Guardiola.

“The previous two games we won but today we adjusted a few things and the performance was really good. The crowd was strong and made an incredible impact again like the first two games as well.

“I’m really pleased as the most important thing is the players need to realise what we have to do to be the way we were the last decade.

“I have the feeling that last season we had an incredible squad and team but we were injured 50% of the players so it means we went down and cannot compete. This season we are going to try to maintain this rhythm as long as possible.”

After this win, City have set up a last-16 tie back in Orlando on Monday.