City are 11 wins away from the unthinkable
CITY are just 11 wins away from pulling off the improbable.
But when Pep Guardiola’s dreaming players reflect on the manner of their win against Everton on Saturday night – for which they had to scrap tooth and nail, and was in serious doubt until the last 10 minutes – they will realise exactly why the manager slumps in his seat whenever the ‘Q’ word gets mentioned.
Winning at Goodison Park takes the Blues two victories away from lifting the FA Cup, they are one away from the Carabao Cup as they face Tottenham in the final next month, two aggregate wins and a final triumph from Champions League glory and five - maybe even less - league wins from clinching the title.
But every game will be like the clash with the Toffees from now on, and usually against better quality opposition than Everton, for all their fight and organisation.
In fact, it may well not be a Bayern
Munich, Borussia Dortmund or Paris St Germain who pose the greatest threat to the Blues pulling off a clean sweep.
Those teams will have the pride and the confidence to take City on in a straight football contest, and that will make it a more open prospect for the rampant Blues.
The Carabao Cup final against Tottenham on April 25 will be another war of attrition, a glorified game of Attack vs Defence that Wembley does not deserve.
Other teams have gone closer to pulling off the Quadruple than City have.
The Blues themselves got as far as the Champions League quarter-final second leg in April 2019, only to find a combination of defensive frailty and extreme bad luck kill them - as they mopped up the other three trophies.
Jose Mourinho’s Chelsea made it as far as May in 2007 before their hopes died - they had already won the League Cup and booked their place in the FA Cup final, as well as still being in the title race.
But facing Liverpool over two legs proved too much for them, as they crashed out of Europe on penalties - another example of how the best teams can fall victim to the fates of the game.
Every game from now on has extreme jeopardy for the Blues.
You would expect City to dig out the wins they need to clinch the league title, especially with the distant chasing pack always susceptible to flaky results.
But, despite their brilliance, despite the hugely improved defence, and despite the control they exert, the odds dictate that sooner or later they will hit something - a bad night at the office, a poor penalty at either end, a red card or a wonder goal, which ends that dream.
The need for luck starts in the next fortnight, with key players heading off on international duty - Guardiola needs them all back safe and well so he can keep his effective rotation policy churning away.
Guardiola says his players are allowed to dream, as long as they heed his one-game-at-a-time mantra. But they cannot afford a wink of sleep and have to hope that they get some uncanny luck if they are to make football history.