Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Pep Guardiola, Manchester City, Everton, Premier League
Josh Lawless
Topics: Pep Guardiola, Manchester City, Everton, Premier League
Pep Guardiola was stunned by what his Manchester City players did on the plane prior to the game against Everton.
On Wednesday night City returned to action for the first time since becoming world champions following a FIFA Club World Cup triumph over Brazilian side Fluminense in Saudi Arabia.
Guardiola is making it his mission to remind his players that they are world champions on a daily basis.
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But he was impressed by the mentality of his stars on the flight home from Saudi.
City blitzed Fluminense 4-0 to add a fifth trophy in 2023 but were already thinking about the tough test at Goodison Park.
The Premier League champions had to come from behind after Jack Harrison, a player previously on City's books, put them in the lead in the first half.
Phil Foden equalised with a fine strike from range before Julian Alvarez put City ahead from the spot after Amadou Onana was penalised for handball inside the area.
Bernardo Silva sealed the win late on after a poor Jordan Pickford clearance.
Prior to their Club World Cup exploits, City had won just one game in six in the Premier League.
Yet Guardiola recognised his team purely from conversations he heard on their private jet.
Speaking in his press conference after the Everton win, Guardiola said: "We’d love for it to be 0-4 after 20 minutes, but this is Disneyland. In the real football it happens like Crystal Palace when we could not win.
“These players move. I remember on the plane as we came back from Saudi Arabia, I was there sitting in my seat and I listened to the players and they started to talk about Everton.
“Three days ago we started to talk about Everton and I said ‘wow, this is my team.’
"They knew how difficult it was with the teams they beat here, the way they play so special, you have to control many things, and we want to be there.
“After many years, we still had the feeling that we want to try it again.
"When you win a lot, the tendency is to go down and we had a lot of problems this season where we played really well in a lot of games but were unable to win."
With a game in hand, City are five points behind leaders Liverpool and take on Sheffield United at the Etihad Stadium in their next outing on Saturday.