City success ‘guaranteed’ with Guardiola, says Begiristain

LONDON: Manchester City director of football Txiki Begiristain believes more success is “guaranteed” ater Pep Guardiola extended his contract at the Etihad until 2023.

Guardiola has won six major trophies in his first four seasons in Manchester, including back-to-back Premier League titles in 2017/18 and 2018/19.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss had never previously stayed more than four seasons at a single club, but both Begiristain and Guardiola are hopeful they can bounce back from being dethroned as English champions by Liverpool last season.

“The future of this club is absolutely guaranteed with him and the players we have,” Begiristain told Citytv.

“He took the club to the top level, the maximum you can get. We wanted to do this atractive football and of course to win and he has done both.”

City set the Premier League points record of 100 in 2017/18 and then held off Liverpool in a thrilling title race a year later with 98.

“We have played unbelievable football and we have won,” added Begiristain.

“When you do 100 points in the Premier League — such a difficult league — and then in the next one, you have to do 98 to beat an unbelievable team like Liverpool by one (point) you want to see every weekend and every year the same.”

Winning City’s first ever Champions League remains the unfinished business of Guardiola’s reign.

But he said no demands were made of him in terms of what trophies to win when discussing his future with City Football Group chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak. “One of the main things was my conversations two or three times with Khaldoon,” said Guardiolaonthereasonhedecidedtoextendhisdeal.