HERE COMES TREBLE
Pep Guardiola and Man City just three games away from historic Treble if they beat Chelsea, Man Utd and Inter Milan
PEP GUARDIOLA celebrated reaching the Champions League final the roared – now let’s get the Treble.
City blew away Real Madrid 4-0 at The Etihad to win their semi-final tie 5-1 on aggregate to book a date with Inter Milan in Instanbul.
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And they now stand only three wins from matching neighbours Manchester United’s achievement of 1999 by lifting the Premier League, FA Cup and European Cup.
And Guardiola said: “We are there now and the players can think about it, visualise it.
“We are three games away. One in each competition. We can do it.
“We need to win one more game in the Premier League then we have our neighbours in the Cup and a Champions League final against an Italian side.
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“The pleasure of being there and playing against Inter Milan is incalculable and we are going to enjoy the occasion.”
Hopefully more than three years ago when they lost in the final in Porto 1-0 to Chelsea.
Victory over Chelsea at The Etihad on Sunday will confirm a hat-trick of Premier League titles and their fifth in six seasons under Guardiola.
They then face neighbours Manchester United in the FA Cup final on June 3.
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And then Inter in Istanbul for the Champions League final the following weekend.
Guardiola said: “We need to close out the Premier League as soon as possible and then prepare for Manchester United and Inter Milan.
“We are one game away from three titles in a row and we have now reached two Champions League finals and one semi-final in three seasons.
“The level of the team is incredible.
“It is so difficult in the modern era to do what this team has done.”
Victory saw Guardiola become the quickest manager to 100 victories in the competition’s history.
He said that victory over Madrid was revenge for last season when they lost to the Spanish giants in heart breaking circumstances at this same stage.
He said: “I had the feeling these last few days that there was a mixture of calm and intention to play this type of game.
“In the first ten to 15 minutes I felt all the pain from last season was here.
“We had to swallow the poison, swallow everything last season. So when the draw was made and it was Madrid, I wanted it.
“Sport gives you the chance for revenge and we were lucky enough to take advantage of it.
“I felt, I could smell the team was ready to compete at the level they did.”
Asked where the performance stood in his managerial career he said:
“It is the highest considering the opponents.”
Bernardo Silva scored twice in what of the most memorable nights in the club’s history.
And Silva said: “It's a beautiful night for us. It's a wonderful feeling to be in the final again, hopefully this time we can win it.
“The fans were amazing once again, they helped us go after Madrid because we know how tough they are.
“Even in the second half when we were winning 2-0, they pushed us and they could have scored but we were very resilient, we were very passionate and organised at the same time and I'm so happy with this performance.”
After drawing 1-1 in the Bernabeu, City took this tie away from the current Champions League holders with an incredible first half display which saw Silva score twice.
A Eder Militao own goal extended the lead on 76 minutes with substitute Julian Alvarez rounding things off in injury time.
Bernardo said: “My performance in the game in Madrid wasn't the one that I wanted, so I wanted to compensate for that because I didn't feel very good at all after the first game.
“Today I had to do better for my team-mates, for the fans and that's what I tried to do and I'm very happy to do that.”
It was not the way Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti wanted to celebrate becoming the manager of the most Champions League games with this his 191st moving him one ahead of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Ancelotti said: “We played against an opponent who deserved to win they played with more intensity, more quality up front and they took their chances.
“They were better than us, we were better last year. When you get to the semi-final of the Champions League you can come up against a team that are really good, they are on form and then you lose the game.”
The defeat, on top of losing La Liga to fierce rivals Barcelona with games to spare, has left a question mark over his future at The Bernabeu.
But Ancelotti said: “The president has been quite clear two weeks ago, there are no doubts about my staying on.”
There was a spat at the end of the game between former United Champions League winner Patrice Evra and Guardiola’s assistant Manel Estiarte.
Evra had turned up for punditry duties in a red suit, and the pair had words at the final whistle with City staff on hand to make sure it did not escalate.
Next up is Chelsea, then Brighton and then Brentford, giving them three bites of the cherry to seal the Premier League.
Then the second leg is the FA Cup, against their bitter old rivals.
Man City play Man Utd in the FA Cup final on Saturday June 3 at Wembley.
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Should they win the Double, the next step will the the Champions League a week later.
Man City play Inter Milan in the Champions League final on Saturday June 10 in Istanbul's Atatürk Olympic Stadium, 8pm kick off
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