Manchester City can ‘visualize’ winning treble now – Pep Guardiola

Manchester City gaffer Pep Guardiola has said that his players can visualize winning treble now after thrashing Real Madrid by 4-0 (5-1 aggregate) in the UEFA Champions League second-leg semifinal at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.

The home team was able to dominate from the get-go with Real Madrid Thibaut Courtois making excellent saves to keep Erling Haaland at bay. However, the Belgian had no chance when Bernardo Silva scored his first of the night in the 23rd minute.

The Portuguese then doubled his team’s lead in the 37th minute with a composed header. Manuel Akanji scored in the 76th minute whereas Julian Alvarez scored in the stoppage time to give a resounding win to his team.

Meanwhile, Manchester City will take on Inter Milan in the UCL final on June 10 while they have a four-point lead against Arsenal with a game in hand in the Premier League table. The Sky Blues will face Manchester United in the FA Cup final and thus their dream of winning the treble is alive.

In fact, Manchester United is the only English club to have won the treble in the 1999 season.

“Let me win the first two,” said Guardiola when asked about City’s chance of winning the treble. “In the Premier League we are close. We know we need one more game and I would say we play against our neighbours [Manchester United] and against an Italian team [Internazionale] in the finals. The season is really, really good, now we have to lift it. We are close and of course we are going to try.

“We are there, we can think about it, we can visualise it. We are three games away. One each of the competitions, we can do it.”

Meanwhile, Manchester City had suffered a heartbreaking loss against Real Madrid in the UCL semifinal as the latter had turned the match on its head at the fag end of the game.

“I had the feeling these last days that we had a mix of calm and tension to play this type of game,” Guardiola said. “After 10 or 15 minutes, I had the feeling that all the pain that we had during one year from what happened last season was there today.

“It was so hard and tough last season. In that moment, we had to swallow poison, and football and sport always gives you another chance. When the draw was Madrid, I said ‘Yeah I want it.’ I wanted it because I think today everything was there.”

Manchester City will next Chelsea on Sunday at the Etihad Stadium.