Pep Guardiola has claimed Manchester City cannot be called the best without Champions League success.
Debates has raged since they completed back-to-back titles – with 198 points over two seasons – whether his team is one of the true greats. If City beat Watford today at Wembley and lift the FA Cup, adding to Carabao Cup glory, they will be the first English side to complete the domestic Treble.
But manager Guardiola claims they still have to lift the ‘big one’ to be talked about in the same breath as Manchester United’s ’99 Treble winners. Or the Liverpool teams that dominated Europe in the late 70s and early 80s.
He said:
“You can’t fight against history – and their history is much bigger. I don’t think we are the best ever, we need longer. It’s a dream if people put us in the same bracket as those teams but maybe you have to win the Champions League. In the history of the Premier League, in terms of results, goals, points, we were the best. But football is not just numbers. It’s not just statistics — it’s feelings and emotions. And I’m not going to say we are the best when Sir Alex Ferguson produced that amount of emotion for United fans, or Liverpool and Bob Paisley in the 80s. We are going to try but I think it’s unfair to say ‘the best’. I don’t know how far we can take this group – but it’s football and people can discuss. Being there with the teams you mentioned is incredible. We just could not expect to be in this position when I arrived. It’s because people enjoyed watching us, home and away.”
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