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He prioritises CL qualification, calling this season a reality check
Published : 29 Mar 2025, 02:28 AM
Manchester City's players and staff do not deserve any performance bonuses that may come their way from this year's Club World Cup, manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.
Reigning Premier League champions City have had a season to forget under Guardiola, with the club 22 points off leaders Liverpool while they were also knocked out of the Champions League early in the knockout phase playoffs.
Having exited the League Cup in the fourth round, City's only realistic hope of domestic silverware this season is the FA Cup, where they are in the quarter-finals and play away at Bournemouth on Sunday.
The total prize pot for the Club World Cup is $1 billion while the winners of the 32-team tournament to be held from Jun 14-Jul 13 in the United States will earn up to $125 million, but Guardiola does not want a single penny.
"We don't deserve a bonus this season. If we win, it will go to the club," Guardiola told reporters.
"The manager, backroom staff and players don't deserve it. Not even a watch!"
With City fifth in the league, Guardiola is also focused on qualifying for the Champions League next season, saying this campaign has been a reality check for the veteran manager who is used to competing on several fronts at this stage of the season.
"You learn in the good moments and the bad moments. Experiences can happen many times and if you don't learn, they will happen again," he said.
"It is good for me, I will learn a lot and hopefully the club as well. When I said in the past that qualification for the Champions League was a huge success, they didn't believe me but now they believe me."
Guardiola said his first target now is to extend the club's record by reaching a seventh straight FA Cup semi-final by defeating Bournemouth, a team that beat his side at the Vitality Stadium in the league earlier this season.
"They have a special way of playing and it works with the players and the ideas that they have," Guardiola said.
"Every team plays in a specific way and they do it really well. Other teams are more direct, other teams want more crosses."
City are also still waiting for a verdict on the alleged breaches of the Premier League's financial rules, which could lead to fines, points deductions or the club even being stripped of titles.
But Guardiola said he and the squad were not affected by the constant speculation about what punishments the club could expect.
"We are more than one year with that," he said. "Nothing will change with one more week, or two more weeks or three or four more weeks."
