Julian Alvarez has opened up on the training ground conversation with Manchester City players about who could win the Qatar 2022 World Cup. Guardiola has kept his cards close to his chest over his World Cup predictions, declining to guess a winner before City broke up for the mid-season break. However, it was revealed earlier in the season that Guardiola had named Argentina as a country with a good chance of winning in a conversation involving Alvarez. The Argentine number nine brushed off questions about the conversation when facing the media earlier this month, but has now given his account of the chat and confirmed that Guardiola did indeed mention Argentina as possible contenders.
Pep Guordiola said: “It was one of my first days in Manchester. The Portuguese guys were talking with Rodri. Pep was there and they were talking about how they felt about the World Cup with it being played in the middle of the season. They were talking about different countries, about the Europeans, Brazil and who could be the winner. Pep said that he didn’t know who could win, that he didn’t want to say. But he pointed at me saying Argentina is in a good moment and that they have a chance.”
Alvarez has been handed the number nine shirt for the tournament and scored in their warm-up win over the United Arab Emirates this week. That continues his good recent form for City, and the striker said he hopes to use that momentum to help his country live up to Guardiola’s prediction.
Pep Guardiola said: “We are in a great moment where we are not losing games, the team is good and solid, but a World Cup is really hard. Obviously we will try to give our best as we always do. But like I said, it is a World Cup and any match you could get knocked out. I am feeling very good, I am playing a lot of minutes and I hope to arrive in my best form. Everybody has helped me and slowly I’ve kept improving. I was always patient and in the last games I have played more minutes. I think that’s the result of hard work and we need to keep doing it this way.”
