The exit of Manchester City from the club World Cup by Al Hilal on Monday finally brought down the curtain on a bad season in front of Pep Guardiola, while confirming that Europe's powerhouses do not have their own way on the new competition of FIFA.
City had traveled to the United States outside the back of a disappointing campaign, both in England and in Europe.
They had looked ominously at the club World Cup and scored 13 goals on their way to the only team that all three group matches won.
Promise was shown by pre-tournament signing sessions Tijjani Reijnders, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Rayan Cherki, but City's Run ended abruptly with a 4-3 extra-time loss against the Saudi side in Orlando.
But could go out now in the long term?
“Nobody wanted to lose, we are very used to having no holidays, unfortunately because the schedule is crazy,” Bernardo Silva of City told the UK Media after what their 61st match was since last August.
“But when we are in a competition, we take it very seriously and we had a lot of ambition for this club world cup and we wanted to win it.”
Guardiola said before he was confronted with Hilal that he understood the criticism of the club of the club by former Liverpool -S Jurgen Klopp, who called the competition “the worst idea ever implemented in football”.
“Maybe it will be a disaster in November, December or January, we are exhausted and the World Cup has destroyed us,” considered Guardiola before he became Hilal.
Now City goes home almost two weeks before the final, and the time to rest will be expensive.
“We would like to go through, you can only be here every four years, we had the feeling that the team is doing well, but we are going home and now it's time to rest and let our minds rest for the new season,” Guardiola said.
There are more than six weeks until City plays their opening Premier League match on August 16 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.
That should be enough time for the city players to rest and then illuminate themselves, including Rodri.
The Spanish midfielder was taken back into action after missing the majority of the last campaign with injury. He came from the bank against Al Hilal, but was replaced in extra time.
“We have to see what Rodri is. He was good, but later complained about his situation,” said Guardiola.
Al Hilal Flex Saudi muscle
The city is still leaving with considerable prize money, probably around $ 40 million, for their participation in the Club World Cup.
Their exit means that one of the semi-finalists is guaranteed to be from outside Europe, because Hilal is already confronted with Fluminense in the last four.
Rio de Janeiro -Outfit Fluminense joined colleague Brazilians Palmeiras when making the quarters when the Copa Libertadores winners of 2023 in the last 16 on Monday dismissed Inter Milan.
Fluminense has shown that they should not be conceived lightly, with the 40-year-old former Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea defender Thiago Silva who march their back line and the Colombian winger Jhon Arias who prove one of the players of the tournament.
The story, almost since the beginning of the tournament, is of Brazilian teams who seemed to stop most likely, which always seemed to be an inevitable European triumph.
But in the last two years have shown that only a select band of megarijke clubs in the Saudi Pro League can compete with the expenditure of Europe's elite.
Al Hilal, from the capital Riyad, is one of the various Saudi teams that have been checked by the oil-financeed public investment fund of the Gulf country.
They missed this year's domestic title to Al ITTIHAD by Jeddah, but are historically the most successful team of Saudi Arabia and qualified for the Club World Cup thanks to their AFC Champions League victory in 2021.
Simone Inzaghi left Inter Milan to become their coach just before the tournament and took over a team full of players who were lured from the leading European teams by the wealth offered.
That makes Inzaghi's post-match remarks about the musting “Everest without oxygen to win the game” seem a bit excessive.
Already Hilal must now be favorites against Fluminense, who would free up a path to a semi -final against Chelsea or Palmeiras.