It’s not unique in history, but it’s not something that happens often. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City is currently the best-placed European team dreaming of winning the treble (or treble, as the English call it) – winning the league, the cup and the Champions League all at once.
Real Madrid and Inter Milan are mathematically included in these accounts as they are in contention in the three leagues. But in either case, winning national championships seems an impossible goal to achieve – the meringues are 11 points behind leaders Barcelona when they have to play seven rounds in Spain; the Milanese, the executioners of FC Porto and Benfica in the Champions League, are 21 points behind leader Napoli. In other words, an almost impossible mission.
The English league seemed like a mirage for the team where the Portuguese Rúben Dias and Bernardo Silva play. But successive slips from leaders Arsenal have moved City closer to reclaiming the title as they are currently just two points behind the gunners and relying only on themselves to get into first place as they have two games less, the equivalent of six points. of victory.
Premier League accounts were very well forwarded to Manchester City on Wednesday, following the Etihad 4-1 categorical victory over London rivals coached by Mikel Arteta. The difference is now only two points, with the special feature that City is two games behind.
In the FA Cup, the team already secured a place in the final, by knocking out Sheffield United in the semi-finals with a hat-trick from Mahrez. And he has already scheduled a meeting at the mythical Wembley Stadium on June 3, where he will face Manchester United’s Bruno Fernandes and Diogo Dalot, who knocked out Brighton.
Then, of course, there is the dream of winning the big trophy, the Champions League, which Pep Guardiola has already won twice while playing for Barcelona (2008-09 and 2010-11), but which he failed consecutively at City. But to get there, in May, they will have to overcome Real Madrid, the Pope Cups, in the semi-finals. Then it will be shown in the final of Istanbul on June 10.
However, the treble theme is something coach Pep Guardiola doesn’t want to hear about anytime soon. “I will only talk about it if we win the league and the FA Cup. We are still a long way off. That will be a topic for the Champions League final if we get the other two goals. How many times has England had a club this incredible feat Our neighbors [Manchester United] they did it in ages. Let’s take it easy,” he said, refusing the expected euphoria.
City, it should be noted, has been the most invested football club in the world over the past decade. Since the 2016/17 season alone, when Guardiola arrived at the club, around €1.3 billion has been spent on reinforcements. Among the most expensive players the club has acquired from Qatari sheikh Sheikh Mansour are names such as Jack Grealish (117.50 million), Kevin De Bruyne (76 million), Rúben Dias (71.6 million) and Rodri (70 million). . Haaland, the team’s top scorer this season with 49 goals in 43 games, oddly enough, was only the ninth most expensive – 60 million.
According to the English press, each City player will receive a prize of 2.3 million euros if the club wins the treble.
In the entire history of football, only seven clubs have managed to win the treble a total of nine times (Bayern and Barcelona have achieved it twice). In addition to these two giants, Celtic, Ajax, PSV, Manchester United and Inter Milan are also part of this closed gallery.
FC Porto at the club of notables
The term triplet applies to teams that, in addition to the two main domestic competitions (championship and cup), manage to win the Champions League in the same season.
But if we add another European competition in addition to the Champions League, the group of clubs will become larger and even a Portuguese emblem will be added, in this case FC Porto, which did so twice. The first with Mourinho, in 2002-03, when he added the UEFA Cup to the competition and the Portuguese Cup by beating Scotland’s Celtic 3-2 in the Sevilla final after extra time. The Dragons repeated the feat in 2010-11, with André Villas-Boas leading the team. After the I Liga and the most important competition of Portuguese football, the blue and whites won the Europa League in an unprecedented final between national emblems, beating Sp. Braga 1-0 thanks to a goal from Colombian Falcao.
Source: DN
