Man City should underestimate Fluminense at their peril! Fired up by a maiden Copa Libertadores win, Fernando Diniz – the samba-loving boss seen as the anti-Guardiola – is seeking another carnival celebration

Fred Caldeira spent most of the past decade as the Northern England correspondent for TNT Brazil. He has boosted social media with viral interviews and built strong relationships with the region's executives.

Caldeira, who grew up in Rio de Janeiro, also happens to be a boyhood Fluminense supporter and is in Saudi Arabia for the Club World Cup final to report on his team against Manchester City, the club he works with more closely than with any other club.

This is what Caldeira prescribes Mail SporIt's about what City can expect from Fluminense, their fun-loving manager Fernando Diniz and what a crazy few months it has been for a giant of Brazilian football.

For Fluminense, this Club World Cup final is a dream. And it's unlikely you can say exactly the same for Manchester City.

City want to tick off another trophy and if they win I don't think you'll see them greeting the players at Manchester Airport on Saturday morning. In Rio there will be hundreds of thousands of people waiting in the arrivals hall to see that trophy if we upset the odds and do it.

Caldeira was a childhood fan and traveled thousands of miles to watch the side lift the trophy

The team defeated Argentinian giants Boca Juniors 2-1 in an exciting match in early November

This has been an incredible year for my team. We came from nowhere last month to win the Copa Libertadores at home, in the grand Maracana, beating the legendary Boca Juniors.

I'm still struggling to come to terms with what the team and manager Fernando Diniz have achieved. The parties in the street that evening. Wow. A carnival. Does this description do it justice? No. It felt like the moment would never come after we lost our first and only other Copa final on penalties in our home stadium fifteen years ago. We were the team to beat at the time and the fans were left traumatized.

So it was a big deal for us and came out of the blue. We weren't City, who consistently reached the semi-finals and finals. It went years without me entering the competition, let alone winning.

I traveled back home for the final. How could I miss it? At the end of the evening I received a message from someone from the club asking if I wanted to come to their private party for family and friends. Sure I will!

Three o'clock in the morning – it was a long night. There was live Samba, a real show. Diniz played percussion, he loves his Samba. We had a nice chat and took some nice pictures. My colleagues in Manchester laughed at me two days later when I was still very hoarse during a Pep Guardiola press conference. You have to enjoy the moment!

After the victory in the Maracana on home soil, there were parties in the streets

The victorious final marks only the second in the competition the team played before the first win

The lion's share of the team's success lies with charismatic head coach Fernando Diniz (center)

All this success is basically thanks to Diniz. He's an interesting character; He played for us and was quite average, but is now a hero. He has previously called himself 'anti-positional' and is seen as the 'anti-Guardiola', even though they share some aspects of possession.

Basically, when City moves the ball, we make sure our players follow. It's about focusing on one side of the pitch and building from there, leaving plenty of space to exploit. That comes with big risks and a tough risk and reward strategy, but it has worked for us.

And Diniz is very good at the human level, which should not be a surprise, because he has a degree in psychology.

He has brought in a psychology team, which is unusual in Brazil. John Kennedy, who scored the winner in the Libertadores and in the semi-final here in Saudi Arabia, is a perfect example of how this has affected the team.

John Kennedy jumped into the ground after winning the trophy to celebrate his winning goal

The Brazilian side have fought their way through their Club World Cup opponents and now face Manchester City in the final

Fluminense's fans gave them a heroic farewell before flying to Jeddah – and will celebrate even more when they return with the trophy

Kennedy had a troubled personal life, coming from a troubled background. He comes from our academy and was not considered someone who focused on his career and was loaned to Ferroviaria in the fourth division at the beginning of this year.

The manager told him to call him back, embrace his problems and fix his career. They really worked with him. Within months he went from there to scoring our biggest ever goal.

The new board has also reorganized the finances. We still have a huge debt, but that is normal in Brazil. Everything looks much better than it did five years ago.

So because of all that, the party was crazy all over the city. We'd like another one of these, please.