Pep Guardiola may not have guided Manchester City to a trophy in 2025 but he was proud of how his side responded to adversity to finish as the best team in the calendar year.
The City head coach also delivered an ominous warning that his side will only improve in the New Year, particularly with the impending return to action of the 2024 Ballon d’Or winner Rodri.
City head to Sunderland on New Year’s Day looking to close the gap on Premier League leaders Arsenal back to two points. They finished third last season and a massive 13 points behind champions Liverpool while also suffering a Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid in the play-off stage of Europe’s premier competition.
Guardiola felt they would have only qualified for the Europa Conference League but for the £180million they spent in the January window to bolster their squad which was injury depleted.
Yet no team has won more games in the Premier League than City this calendar year, with the Catalan’s side collecting 77 points from 36 games which included 24 victories. Arsenal amassed the same amount of points but played a game more and won 22.
“At the end of last season, what we have done, overcome the problems that we had — one of the best seasons we have had as a team,” said Guardiola.
“The guys who were there, all the season were there, the staff and background staff last season was arguably one of the best that we had. Because it’s how you overcome the problems.
“In this perspective, now every time when I reflect on what happened last season, I’m more proud than ever about what we have done as a club, how we handled the bad, bad situations.”
City signed Omar Marmoush, Nico Gonzalez and Abdukodir Khusanov in January and February after a run of nine defeats in 12 games in all competitions between October and December.
The poor form had left them well out of contention in the Premier League and meant they missed out on automatic qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League, but they finished the league season with nine wins from 15 games to secure Champions League qualification with a third-placed finish.
“Before the start of last season I said I never expected to go to the transfer window in winter time and in the end we bought three or four players because we didn’t have players,” said the City boss. “Without those players we wouldn’t be in the Champions League this season. I think we would have been playing in the (Europa) Conference without those signings.
“Basically we didn’t have players for a long, long time, and the moment with the new players and then with three-quarters of the season gone others came back, we were the best team in the Premier League in the last 10 to 15 games in the season.”
City spent most of last season without midfielder Rodri which also contributed to their struggles. The 29-year-old Spain international has had a hamstring injury this term and has played just eight games so far. His last appearance was a minute off the bench against Bournemouth at the start of November.
Rodri returned to the matchday squad for the win over Nottingham Forest on Saturday.
“We miss him a lot,” he said. “The only thing I want is Rodri to be happy. That’s all I want.
“The knee I know is fine, the muscles are fine. I want the Rodri that we met, his joy in playing, his presence and body language and this kind of stuff. I want it for him, for the team, of course, selfishly.
“Massively important figure. With Rodri we are a stronger team, There’s no doubt about that.”