The legends couldn’t win all four so why can we?
GUARDIOLA: TOP TEAMS FAILED QUAD TEST
PEP GUARDIOLA admits Manchester City are chasing the impossible dream with their historic Quadruple bid.
Guardiola’s men are 14 games away from an unprecedented clean sweep of the Premier League, Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup in one season.
But he has played down City’s chances of claiming all four trophies, pointing out great sides of the past, including Manchester United’s 1999 Treble winners, were unable to achieve the feat.
“I’m not in the minds of my players and the fans to tell them what to think,” said Guardiola, whose side can reclaim top spot from title rivals Liverpool tonight with victory over Cardiff.
“If they want to dream and think about winning everything, I’m not a guy to say anything. But why should you talk about the Quadruple when in this country, a legendary country, it has never happened.
“Legendary teams like Liverpool, the period with Sir Alex Ferguson at United, Jose Mourinho and Chelsea, Arsene Wenger with Arsenal – no-one did it. So why should we do it?
“We can’t forget that even the team that won the Treble with Sir Alex Ferguson, an incredible team in 1998-99, won the league with 79 points.
“In the FA Cup semi-final, they had 10 against 11 and Ryan Giggs ran past five or six to score, and in the Champions League final at the Nou Camp, everything there.
“So to win the Treble is so tough. One point difference in the league, that semi-final of the FA Cup against Arsenal, Dennis Bergkamp missed a late penalty, a red card for Roy Keane.
“Then the chances Bayern had in that Champions League final – hitting the crossbar two times – and then with the last two corners, United scored.
“The spirit, the desire to win the Treble and of course the quality of everybody at United meant they did it, but it shows how difficult it is the way they won it and the fact it has only happened once in all our lives.”
City rewrote the Premier League record books last season by reaching 100 points and claiming the title by a 19point margin, but Guardiola reckons they are even better this term.
“We judge the team by how many titles you can win compared to last season,” said the City boss.
“In the FA Cup we were out, but in the same position in the Champions League. I’m satisfied to think we’re better. We’ve had more time together, 1st Division: Won by 1 point European Cup: beat Borussia Moenchengladbach 3-1
FA Cup: Lost 2-1 to Man United League Cup: Lost 1-0 to West Brom in second round we do better things than last season, but we’ll be judged on the number of titles we win.”
City will be without striker Sergio Aguero for tonight’s game. He has not trained for the past two days and is also a doubt for Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Brighton.
Guardiola (right) has reminded Benjamin Mendy of his responsibilities – after the defender was filmed in a
Premier League: Won by 1 point Champions League: beat Bayern Munich 2-1
FA Cup: beat Newcastle 2-0 League Cup: Lost 3-1 to Tottenham in quarter-finals
Premier League: Won by 7 points Champions League: Lost in second group phase
FA Cup: Beat Chelsea 2-0 League Cup: Lost 4-0 to Blackburn in fifth round nightclub in the early hours before training.
Mendy was caught on camera in Manchester’s Club Liv at 3.30am on Saturday, nine hours before his City team-mates kicked-off in their 2-0 win at Fulham.
He was in training later that day, but did not break any club curfew as he was not part of the matchday squad.
Premier League: Won by 12 points
Champions League: Lost 1-0 to Liverpool on agg
FA Cup: Lost 1-0 to Newcastle in fifth round
League Cup: Beat Liverpool 3-2 aet