MY ACCOUNT
Pep Guardiola will not entertain talk of a Manchester City treble until after they have won both the Premier League and the FA Cup, having been bemused by the suggestion they are “just 11 games” away.
City are through the semi-finals of both the FA Cup, playing Sheffield United on Saturday, and the Champions League, having eliminated Bayern Munich in the last eight this week.
As the league champions close on Arsenal at the top of the table, too, there is the potential for City to emulate rivals Manchester United’s feat of 1999.
But Guardiola’s side face a gruelling schedule, with the manager already complaining of fatigue following the Bayern game even before reaching a two-legged semi against Real Madrid.
For that reason, he sought to shut down the topic of the treble ahead of travelling to Wembley this weekend.
“I’m so happy you spent 10 questions before the first question about the treble,” Guardiola said eight minutes into Friday’s media briefing. “It was so nice.
“We will start to talk about the treble when we’ve won the Premier League and after we’ve won the FA Cup, before the final of the Champions League.
“Look how far away it is to start to talk about that.”
The reporter asking the question replied: “But it’s just 11 games, it’s not long.”
To that, a smirking Guardiola countered: “Oh, ‘just’, yes, ‘just’ 11 games. We are far away.
“I’ve said many times: how many times in this amazing country are trebles done? How many years? How many times? It’s one. Our neighbours did it [once] in how many centuries?”
Asked if he was excited, Guardiola responded: “About the treble? Not at all.”
City play Arsenal next in the Premier League on Wednesday, but their manager insisted he would not pick his team for Saturday with that game in mind.
Instead, he would be reflecting on the energy that was used in Munich, where Nathan Ake succumbed to an injury that will keep him out of this tie.
Even then, Guardiola is wary of a repeat of previous seasons, having exited the FA Cup at the semi-final stage in three straight years. In the past two, those defeats followed immediately after coming through a Champions League quarter-final.
“For Arsenal, we have four days; we have one more day than we have now,” he said. “I would have loved to have played on Sunday, but I understand. United played yesterday, so that’s why they have to play on Sunday.
“In the past, when I rotated the team, it was not because the next game was the FA Cup semi-final; it was just for the fatigue we had, with Atletico Madrid last season or Dortmund two seasons ago.
“It was away, after a demanding, demanding game, and that was the reason why. I have to evaluate with my backroom staff who is the best.”
