Already Treble winners and UEFA Super Cup holders, Pep Guardiola’s squad now have the chance to make history if we overcome our Brazilian opponents to be crowned world champions.
Victory in Jeddah would see City become the first ever English side to win the Premier League, FA Cup, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup in a single calendar year.
And for skipper Walker – who has been an integral part of City’s remarkable era of success under Guardiola – it would represent another landmark moment.
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“When you come over here to play in these competitions, there’s only a selective few players that can say that they’ve gone on and won this competition, especially in Europe as you have to go and win the Champions League to qualify,” the England full-back pointed out.
“So, for us to finally tick that box off with having won the FA Cup, the Premier League and then the Champions League, this would be the icing on the cake.
“But it’s going to be a tough game against a good team on Friday.
“We’re concentrating on the game on Friday now and that’s to make history.
“It’s a competition that we’ve never won as players or as a club, so we’ll go and [look to] tick that off and then return to the Premier League with a tough, tough game at Goodison Park against Everton.
“[We’re here] to win this competition, not just coming here to, you know, play for 3rd and 4th. Now let’s go and win the final and then we’ll think about the Premier League.”
Walker has accumulated a remarkable amount of silverware since joining City from Spurs back in the summer of 2017.
Since then, he has won five Premier Leagues, four League Cups, two FA Cups, one Champions League and one UEFA Super Cup winners’ medals.
It has been the most sustained and successful period in City’s 129-year history.
But the 33-year-old says he is confident it’s just the start of what he believes can be a prolonged period of glory.
“I think that we’re probably just starting the building blocks with the Club,” Walker insisted.
“Obviously the club have gone and won in the Premier League in the past but to go and do it for a dominant amount of time like we’ve done it, you know it’s not been done before here.
“So hopefully we’re starting a new generation, and you know we set the path for the youngsters that are coming through.
“Hopefully the likes Phil Foden and Rico [Lewis]… they can go on and emulate what we’ve been doing over the last couple of years.”
Ahead of arriving in Saudi, it had been a testing period for the Club with City having only won one of our last six games in the league.
But for Walker following a summer which saw experienced personnel such as Ilkay Gundogan, Riyad Mahrez and Aymeric Laporte depart and new arrivals such as Mateo Kovacic, Josko Gvardiol, Matheus Nunes and Jeremy Doku all come in, there was always going to be a period of readjustment.
And he believes the way the squad has regrouped and made our way to the showpiece final in Jeddah speaks volumes as to City’s collective mindset and desire.
“I think this [reaching the final] shows character,” the captain pointed out.
“I think we’ve lost some good players in Gundo and Riyad - good experienced Premier League players that know the game inside and out and know how the manager wants to work.
“It’s about that adjusting period of you know people coming in and settling in and getting used to how the manager wants to play and how the players play around them.
“But listen, we’re right there and I feel confident, the lads feel confident.
“That maybe this is what we need from such a high to snap back down to reality and we go again now and hopefully that’s the starting point.
“Now we want to go on a good run in the Christmas period and pick up the points.”
Every match at the 2023 FIFA Club World Cup is available to watch in the UK on TNT Sports and FIFA+. For fans outside of the UK, click here to find out how you can watch the matches in Saudi Arabia.
The official Man City app will also have free live radio commentary as part of our usual Matchday Live show that includes studio guests previewing and analysing the action.
