Pep Guardiola targets 'full circle' of trophies after Manchester City win Super Cup

Manager aims to add Club World Cup title to cabinet after hard-fought win over Sevilla

Manchester City players celebrate with the trophy after defeating Sevilla to win the UEFA Super Cup at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Piraeus, Greece, on Wednesday, August 16, 2023. EPA

Manchester City's Kyle Walker holds the UEFA Super Cup trophy. PA

Manchester City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and Erling Haaland with the Super Cup trophy. PA

Manchester City's Erling Haaland and manager Pep Guardiola after winning the Super Cup in Greece. PA

Manchester City's Jack Grealish scoring during the penalty shootout in the Super Cup match against Sevilla. AFP

Jack Grealish and Rodri celebrate Manchester City's Super Cup win. Getty

Manchester City players celebrate after winning the penalty shootout. Reuters

Erling Haaland after scoring in the penalty shootout. AFP

Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson punches the ball away. AFP

Sevilla's goalkeeper Bono makes a save. AP

Cole Palmer scored the equaliser for Manchester City to force a penalty shootout. Getty

Pep Guardiola has already set his sights on the next trophy missing from Manchester City's cabinet after the treble winners claimed the Uefa Super Cup for the first time after defeating Sevilla on penalties following a 1-1 draw in Greece.

In a tense game, Youssef En-Nesyri's towering first-half header gave the Spanish Europa League holders the lead. European champions City were far from their best, but hit back to force the game to penalties through Cole Palmer's header.

City were then perfect from the spot and prevailed 5-4 in the shootout after Sevilla defender Nemanja Gudelj smashed against the bar.

Two months on from becoming the second English club in history to win the treble, City have now won the Super Cup for the first time and Guardiola is determined to add the Club World Cup to their haul in December.

Should City win the Club World Cup, it would complete Guardiola's honours list since arriving in England, which also includes five Premier League titles, four League Cups, two FA Cups and the club's first Champions League.

"We are really pleased to have already one title in this season. Really pleased for the club - this title we didn't have and now we have it," the City manager said.

"We miss just one to finish the full circle and be able for this club to win all the titles we can have. It's happening in December, when we go to Saudi Arabia to play there, the [Club] World Cup.

"I would say really, really pleased. A tight game like happened in the [Champions League] final against Inter, a tight game that we lost in the last minute against Arsenal [in the Community Shield]. Football in these stages, in that moment, in that period is a coin flip."

Guardiola had bemoaned his side's lack of preparation for the new season, which showed under the baking heat in the Greek capital.

City missed the creative presence of Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva through a combination of injury and illness.

A four-month absence for De Bruyne due to a serious hamstring injury has exacerbated the loss of firepower offered by Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez since last season.

Palmer could be one answer, with the 21-year-old academy product impressing as City's most dangerous player and nodding in from Rodri's cross to add to his goal in the Community Shield.

"He has a character. It's not easy to play against defenders like [Marcos] Acuna, for example, who is a top defender," Guardiola said.

"It's not easy, it's a final. He's a young player playing in these stages. It's not easy for these guys. He played really, really good and made a fantastic goal, too."

As for Sevilla, the shoot-out heartbreak represented a sixth successive Super Cup loss.

Head coach Jose Luis Mendilibar said: "To make a good plan against a team as good as City is very complicated. I really wish we'd played higher up the pitch and put them under more pressure.

"When we had the chances to score the second goal, we didn't take them. But I really believe we played a good game, and we probably created more chances than them."