Football is over and boxing has begun, Felipe Melo and Kyle Walker finish the World Cup final with blows

The duel between Manchester City and Fluminense for the final of the Club World Cup generated a lot of expectation and the preview was truly experienced at maximum intensity due to the emotion of once again seeing a confrontation between the best in Europe and the best in America. And before the match, Felipe Melo exploded in the locker room because of an attitude that he saw in his rivals.

The favoritism of the English team was evident and this could be seen on the field of play with the 4-0 victory in Saudi Arabia to win the trophy, Pep Guardiola's fourth in his history, the first with City, which won his first Champions League last season. The Brazilian team, for its part, knew that it had a very difficult stop against a team full of stars, but there have already been plenty of examples of how logic does not always apply in football and there have been global failures.

What bothered Felipe Melo, the undisputed reference of the 'Flu', was that the Manchester City players arrived at the King Abdullah Sports City stadium in Saudi Arabia laughing and very relaxed, something that for him gave indications that they were sure that they were going to win. The phrase that the 40-year-old defender would have said to his teammates in the locker room, quite angry by the way, was leaked on social networks. “Did you see how they were when they arrived? Laughing and eating gum, thinking they had won. “Damn!”

Despite Felipe Melo's intention to lift the spirits of his teammates in the face of this difficult stop, the truth is that Guardiola's team was superior from start to finish and had them cornered in their goal until the end of the match. In fact, Julián Álvarez's early goal in the first minute of play, which made it the fastest goal in the history of the tournament, was a very hard blow for Fernando Diniz's team, who at no time were able to take the lead. control.

Manchester City beat Fluminense in the Club World Cup

At times the 2023 Copa Libertadores champion wanted to get out of the background, but the reality is that Germán Cano was alone in three quarters of the field in front of three or four City defenders and he had no other alternative than to try a shot from the middle or long distance, as he did at the end of the first half when kicking from midfield. The result once again tipped the balance in favor of European football, which at least in this final demonstrated a certain superiority over City, which is not going through its best moment, but which undoubtedly has a top-level squad despite not having taken into account field to two of its greatest figures, such as Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne, who arrived injured and, having not participated in the semifinals, could not play this match if they were ready.