(Football news) Manchester City secured their fifth Premier League title in six years and their third consecutive for the first time in their history after defeating Chelsea 1-0. The Citizens had already secured their title after Arsenal lost to Nottingham Forest on Saturday and are now hoping to win the FA Cup and Champions League next month to complete their historic treble. They will take on Manchester United in the FA Cup final on June 3rd before facing Inter Milan a week later in the European Cup final.
Guardiola, who has already won two Champions League titles with Barcelona said “A fifth Premier League in six years, seven in 12, I could not imagine winning five in six. I have the feeling we’ve done something exceptional. It’s something extraordinary. People know how exceptional it is. But to be considered one of the greatest we have to win the Champions League, otherwise it’s not complete. You have to win in Europe, the Champions League, to be considered one of the best teams like Manchester United or Liverpool but also it’s unfair to say if you don’t win it, the Premier League doesn’t make sense.”
He added “Of course, it makes sense, of course it’s important. It’s every day, every week. This club won five of the last six but six of the last 10 and seven of the last 12. It’s amazing. It can be unfair that you need to win the Champions League to give credit and value to what you have done but we have to accept it.
“It is good. A long time ago, people did not say I had to come here and win the Champions League but after what we have done, I know it will not be complete if I do not win the Champions League, if we do not win the Champions League. But sometimes training with this pressure is so nice. It is necessary. We talked to each other a lot, [saying] we have to do it. At the same time, if the club continues in this way, sooner or later we will do it. But we are there so we have to try.”
Guardiola also paid tribute to his former assistant Mikel Arteta and Arsenal for their consistency this season. The Spaniard said “We pushed Arsenal but they are exceptional. They should be proud of where they have come from. They have to sustain it, that is the reality, but for me they are winners. They made me think a lot what I had to do to beat them, and they did it to us.
“Our relentlessness and not giving up, and having the feeling that we had to win otherwise it would not be possible, helped us a lot. With the relationship I have with Mikel – congratulations for what they’ve done. He’s brought them back to what Arsenal was in the past. Similar to Liverpool in previous seasons, they took us to our limits.”
Manchester City defender Kyle Walker said “Obviously every one is a very special moment. I think to not be sitting at the top of the league for as long as we were, I think it was 11 points at one stage, so to then come back just needing a victory out of one of the three games, it’s brilliant. This group of lads are second to none. They’re professionals, they’re winners, and I think that’s how we get across the line more times than not. But we’re not finished. We’ve got the FA Cup against our bitter rivals Manchester United and then we’ve got the Champions League final.”
When asked about the possibility of a treble, Walker replied “It would be fantastic but there’s a lot of football to be played before we can start talking about the treble. We’ve got two massive finals. I think, just for this club and this group of lads that I’ve been involved with for six years, to say we’re up there with one of the greatest Premier League teams of all time, I think we have to go and conquer some of that. To go and get this, I think we can really stamp our mark on being one of the greatest teams of all-time in the Premier League.”
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