Guardiola: My focus is cup win, not ‘impossible’ quadruple
Victory for Pep Guardiola in this afternoon’s Carabao Cup final against Chelsea will intensify questions about Manchester City’s quest for an unprecedented “quadruple”, although it is a topic the manager is in no hurry to discuss and not just because he was quick to point out that his club can, technically, win five trophies this season.
The Catalan had already jokingly corrected a journalist who stated that success today would present City with their first trophy of the season, pointing out his club won the Community Shield against the same opposition, at the same stadium, in August.
But when pressed further about City adding the league title, FA Cup and Champions League – in which they are in a commanding position in their last16 tie with Schalke – to the Carabao Cup, Guardiola was less amused.
History is against his club in such a quest, undoubtedly, but the City manager is also aware that such stratospheric expectations merely set his team up for criticism if they fall short.
“How many times in England, one team wins four titles in one season?” said Guardiola. “Don’t put that pressure on our shoulders because we don’t deserve it.
“First for the club we are, for the history. Sir Alex Ferguson’s incredible United? He never did it. Liverpool, in the Eighties, how many Champions Leagues they have in their pockets? They didn’t do it.
“So don’t put the pressure on one team in February or November or December. You have to win four titles – it is impossible. In May, we will see.
“You sell something that is not true. After that [you say], ‘They fail, Manchester City fail because they don’t win four titles, they only win three titles,’ when in this country that only happens once in our life. That is not fair on us.”
Victory today, against a Chelsea side beaten 6-0 by City at the Etihad two weeks ago, would certainly add fuel to the debate about a quadruple.
City will be favourites to advance to the quarter-finals in Europe and will be considered likewise when visiting Championship side Swansea at that stage of the FA Cup next month.
Ferguson and United in 1999, of course, remain the only English club to win the widely accepted definition of a treble, made up of domestic league and the country’s major cup competition plus the Champions League – a feat Guardiola matched with Barcelona a decade later, coincidentally by beating United in the Champions League final.
But even should City fail in Europe, they could still become the first English club to win all three domestic competitions in the same campaign – not that Guardiola is in the mood for such contemplation.
“Ask me this question in May,” he said. “Kevin [De Bruyne] said perfectly the last press conference in Germany: ‘Next target, next game.’ You sell an illusion.”
City can move a step closer to retaining their Premier League title this afternoon should Liverpool lose the game they hold in hand in their visit to Old Trafford.
But when asked to choose which result he would prefer this afternoon – a City win or a Liverpool defeat – Guardiola shot back. “City win,” he grinned. “Once we are in the final, tomorrow is the most important game in the season.
“You won something or nothing or whatever, so we know the Premier League is the most important one, the Champions League, the Cup, it is what it is. The Carabao Cup is the most important game by far.
“Of course it would be good for us if Manchester United take a result, but we have a final. This club, maybe for United and Liverpool it is not important, in their cabinet of trophies they have many titles, but it is not our case and retaining a title will be good and playing a final will be good and always will help us grow as a club.
“It will be an incredibly tough game for [Chelsea] and us, and of course we want to win it.”