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FBL-ENG-PR-BURNLEY-MANCITY,PREVIEW
Guardiola eyes history as City’s treble chase heats up
MANCHESTER, United Kingdom, April 27, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Manchester City face
Burnley on Sunday at the start of a four-match spell that could see Pep
Guardiola write a remarkable new chapter in English football history.
Guardiola’s side follow the crucial Premier League fixture at Turf Moor
with games against Leicester and Brighton, as City seek to hold off Liverpool
in a thrilling title race.
City are two points behind Liverpool after the leaders regained top spot
with their 5-0 win over Huddersfield on Friday.
But the champions, who also have an FA Cup final date with Watford on May
18, will be guaranteed to retain the title if they win their last three
matches.
That means a City team that has won 26 of their last 28 games, a run
dating back to the end of last year, now stands just four victories away from
becoming the first side in the history of English football to win all three
domestic trophies in the same season.
It is a feat Guardiola has already achieved in his career — with
Barcelona 10 years ago.
But the City manager was not keen to draw comparisons ahead of a
potentially difficult visit to a Burnley team that drew with Chelsea on
Monday.
“We are out of the Champions League and at Barcelona we were in,” said
Guardiola when asked to compare the two campaigns.
“Now we are not thinking too much the FA Cup Final against Watford. I’m
concerned with Burnley, Leicester, Brighton.
“Just focus on that. We will analyse at the end of the season how many
titles. It’s not going to change my opinion of what we’ve done this season…
how many titles we win.
“All respect for my players and of course what Liverpool have done.”
Guardiola himself has won the even more prestigious treble of domestic
league and cup combined with the Champions League.
The Catalan pulled off that feat with Barcelona in 2008-09.
Manchester United pulled off the most famous treble in English football
history a decade earlier when current manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer scored the
dramatic goal that won the club the Champions League Final against Bayern
Munich.
But that season, Alex Ferguson’s side were denied a domestic treble — and
an unprecedented quadruple — by losing to Tottenham in the quarter-finals of
the League Cup.
In the context of British football, domestic trebles are relatively common
— with Glasgow giants Rangers and Celtic having recorded seven and six,
respectively, in the Scottish game.
The absence of a third domestic competition in Germany, Spain and Italy
means that the only other top-tier European nations that have produced
domestic treble winners are Portugal — with Benfica in 2014 — and France,
where Paris Saint Germain have won three this decade.
City will be without the injured Kevin De Bruyne at Turf Moor but, more
worryingly, may also have to contend without physical midfielder Fernandinho
after the Brazilian injured his knee in the midweek win at United.
But, after setting a new record for a top-flight club by taking their
tally of goals in all competitions to 157 in the 2-0 Old Trafford win,
Guardiola is at least optimistic about his team’s ability to keep their
blistering form going at Turf Moor.
“It makes me proud, I love to score a lot of goals to respect this game,
to show how we want to attack and do it in every game,” he said.
“We have 157 goals but we don’t have one guy who scored 60, everyone was
involved, Sergio (Aguero) and Gabriel (Jesus), they scored a lot, the
wingers, attacking midfielders, we cannot score a lot from set pieces because
we are a small team.
“That’s why – I’m very pleased that the top two are both Man City –
Manuel’s (Pellegrini) team is the second one. Both are there and it means the
club is focused on playing an attractive game and I like that.”
BSS/AFP/SSS/0853 hrs