Pep Guardiola believes winning the FIFA Club World Cup would ‘close the circle’ on Manchester City’s incredible success in recent seasons.

Guardiola has overseen the most trophy-laden period in the Club’s history, collecting 15 major honours since arriving in Manchester in 2016. That leaves the Club World Cup, which City have not previously competed in, as the only trophy outstanding from his time in England.

City are in Saudi Arabia this week to compete for the trophy, with a semi-final against Japanese club Urawa Red Diamonds the first assignment on Tuesday. Speaking in his pre-match press conference at the King Abdullah Sports City in Jeddah, he reflected on previous entries with Barcelona and emphasised his desire to add to the Club’s magnificent haul during his reign.

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“First of all we have to deserve to be in the final to take this trophy,” he said, adding: “It is the fourth time I have played this competition, and the previous times the semi-final was tough, really tricky every time. We want to win it. Once we are here, it is a trophy we do not have. We want to close the little circle and win all the trophies we could do. This is the last one.”

City have been through a period of indifferent form in the Premier League – winning one, drawing four, and losing one of our last six domestic fixtures. That has left them in fourth place as we seek to win a record fourth successive title. Guardiola has urged his players to put those recent results to the back of their minds and focus on the job of winning the Club World Cup.

“It’s a different competition,” he stated, adding: “Whatever happens here will be different to when we return and play Everton, Sheffield United and Newcastle. Except for the Aston Villa game, our performance was excellent in many ways but we have to be better at managing games. But hopefully, we can maintain passion and desire tomorrow against Urawa.”