For a club that turns 130 this year, it says something that 2023 was – by some distance – the best year in Manchester City\u2019s history.<\/p>\n
A record haul of five trophies was accrued as Pep Guardiola\u2019s team set about conquering first England, then Europe and, finally, the world.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt’s incredible when you look back on it all,\u201d Kyle Walker told FIFA last week. \u201cYou pinch yourself a little bit when you think about what we achieved as a collective.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was fantastic \u2013 something we can look back on for many, many years to come. And not just to do it, but the way we did it, playing really good football.\u201d<\/p>\n
That swashbuckling City approach was again in evidence last month, when the FIFA Club World Cup\u2122 \u2013 described by Walker as \u201cthe last piece in the jigsaw puzzle\u201d \u2013 was secured in style with an emphatic 4-0 win over Fluminense.<\/p>\n
For the England defender, it was an especially significant moment as he had the honour of lifting the trophy, having taken on the armband from Ilkay Gundogan, the club\u2019s departed UEFA Champions League-winning captain.<\/p>\n
He said: \u201cOnce we won the Champions League, we knew we just had to tick a couple more off the list. One was the [UEFA] Super Cup, and once we did that the Club World Cup was the one thing we had left to win.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe lads are buzzing because of that badge that you get on the shirt. I think that shows to the teams we\u2019re playing that we are the best team in the world. And rightly so.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides skippering the team to glory, Walker was one of City\u2019s stars, earning himself the adidas Silver Ball award as the global finals\u2019 second-best player.<\/p>\n
The sense that this 32-year-old is scaling new heights in an already-impressive career was then strengthened last week, when he was voted into the FIFA\/FIFPRO Word 11 for the first time.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe main thing about that is the fact it\u2019s voted for by your peers,\u201d he said. \u201cIt shows they appreciate the work you\u2019re putting in on the field. That\u2019s why it\u2019s such a great honour.\u201d<\/p>\n
Walker was one of six City players in that World 11, and another member of the sextet, Erling Haaland, numbered among three finalists for The Best FIFA Men\u2019s Player award. While he was pipped to the prize by one of the game\u2019s all-time greats in Lionel Messi, his captain expects the prolific Norwegian to be a consistent contender for such honours.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe thought when he came, \u2018Ok, he’s going to hit the ground running because he’s a top, top player.\u2019 But to do what he did, and score the amount of goals that he did, is incredible and really sets him apart,\u201d said Walker.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s gone up against tough competition, in probably the best player ever to grace the game of football. But Erling\u2019s got many years to come and I’m sure he’ll be sat here again, competing for that big prize.\u201d<\/p>\n
One team-mate did emerge from the London ceremony with that coveted tag of \u2018The Best\u2019. Ederson has helped redefine the role of goalkeeper and, having played in front of him for the past six-and-a-half years, Walker was well qualified – and eager – to sing the Brazilian\u2019s praises.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe’s like a left-back, isn’t he? He’s fantastic,\u201d the defender enthused. \u201cThere\u2019s three of us \u2013 him, me and Bernardo [Silva] \u2013 who came in during the same transfer window back in 2017, got the ball rolling and are still here.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s played a huge part. To have someone who\u2019s so composed at the back to play out, it gives us an extra number when we\u2019re on the ball. And he makes vital saves in big moments. So, yeah, he fully deserves this.\u201d<\/p>\n
And what of Pep Guardiola, the other City representative to be crowned The Best in England\u2019s capital? How has Walker found the experience of working under one of the most revered, and intense, coaches in football history?<\/p>\n
\u201cSometimes it’s a nightmare!\u201d he said, laughing. \u201cJust because he’s so demanding. But I think that’s also why he’s gone and achieved what he has in football.<\/p>\n
\u201cNo disrespect to Alex Ferguson, but I you can put [Guardiola] in that category now because of the amount of trophies that he’s won, and with different teams too. You know, we’ve seen players \u2013 key players too \u2013 come and go at City, and we always seem to be coming out on top. You have to put a lot of that down to him.\u201d<\/p>\n
With an era-defining coach and a squad crammed with world-class talent, City certainly have plenty to purr about. Perhaps the only question facing Walker and Co, given their sensational successes in 2023, is how they can possibly improve on a near-perfect year?<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s about replicating it really,\u201d he said. \u201cPeople keep on asking us: \u2018How do you keep going and keep winning?\u2019 But I think that’s just the mentality that we’ve got as a group \u2013 as players and especially the manager. He’s the big driving force in that and we just try and follow his orders.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn every competition, we want to go on and win it. And right now, we\u2019re still in contention for the big three (the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League). I think there\u2019s bigger competition for the Premier League this season, and Liverpool are looking really strong right now.<\/p>\n
\u201cThen the Champions League is a toss of a coin; you always need a little bit of luck in that one. But, like every competition, we\u2019re in it to win it.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
For a club that turns 130 this year, it says something that 2023 was – by some distance – the best year in Manchester City\u2019s history. A record haul of five trophies was accrued as Pep Guardiola\u2019s team set about conquering first England, then Europe and, finally, the world. \u201cIt’s incredible when you look back […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":13,"featured_media":932487,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20966],"tags":[9648,27192],"class_list":["post-932486","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-fifa-news","tag-fifa","tag-fifa-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932486","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/13"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=932486"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/932486\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/932487"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=932486"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=932486"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/91varzeshi.ir\/portal\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=932486"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}