Yes, City will probably win the Treble but until they lift the Champions League they’ll never put United in the shade...
PEP GUARDIOLA will never leave the neighbours at Old Trafford completely in the shade until Manchester City win the Champions League.
All the smart money will be on City completing a domestic Treble when they play Watford in the FA Cup final today having already clinched the Premier League and League Cup.
But for all the glorious football they have played, and their astonishing stockpile of points over the last two seasons, they know the big prize Manchester United have won three times has escaped them.
And United’s Treble in 1999 will remain the yardstick for greatness until it is matched – or even surpassed by the Quadruple.
In the immediate short term, Pep has another Wembley final to win – and he hasn’t lost one with City yet.
Will there be a reprise of Wimbledon in 1988 when the Crazy Gang shocked Liverpool? I don’t think so.
Will there be a repeat of Wigan’s last-gasp winner against City six years ago? I can’t see it.
Will City complete a domestic Treble with a straightforward win? That’s my shout – I reckon it will be a comfortable 2-0 with 70 per cent possession and plenty of chances.
Guardiola will keep them fired up, leaving Europe as the final frontier for him to conquer.
There is an argument that City are already the best team ever to win the Premier League. In the last two campaigns they have reaped 198 points and dropped only 30 in 76 games – 2.6 points a game, staggering.
Liverpool earned 97 points this term, lost only one game, and still didn’t win the title. Incredible.
I think this City team is so good to watch, and so consistent, they are better than Arsenal’s Invincibles of 2004, and Arsene Wenger’s Double winners of 1998 and 2002, who were the best team I played against.
Some said Pep was deluded if he thought he could win the Premier League without practising tackling on the training ground, something he admitted in his first season at the Etihad that he did not bother doing.
The stats have made a number of those critics look a bit foolish.
This season, in the league, City came top in terms of points won, games won, goals scored, shots, pass completion, possession, the fewest attempts on their goal . . and 20th, bottom of the pile, for tackles won. From back to front, they are simply top-quality.
This season was the first in which Sergio Aguero has been included in the PFA Premier League Team of the Year, but he has been consistently the best striker at this level since the 2011-12 campaign.
And without wishing to frighten City’s rivals, I can only see Guardiola strengthening his squad this summer. Maybe he will be looking at 34-year-old Fernandinho, who has been such an important cog in the machine, and lining up his successor in midfield.
Maybe he will bring in another striker to share the burden with Aguero and keep Gabriel Jesus on his toes.
City are awesome, and even now I think they will probably complete a hat-trick of Premier League titles next season.
I would like to see them do it so we can celebrate the genius of Pep Guardiola with a monumental achievement.
But is Pep grand master of the greatest team in the Premier League era when they have yet to win the Champions League? For me, that’s where United – who haven’t had much to shout about this term – can still lay claim to at least one crown.
Until City win the biggest trophy of all, the European Cup, they will remain at least partly in United’s shadow.