Manchester City are on the verge of making history as only the second team in the history of English football to win a treble of Premier League, English FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League. Double is in the bag as the Citizens have already won two of those titles having pipped Arsenal to the Premier League title and just last weekend, they won the first ever Manchester derby FA Cup final, beating city rivals, Manchester United 2-1 at Wembley.
Pep Guardiola’s men have now set their sights on what could be an historic night at Istanbul where they could win the UEFA Champions League should they beat Serie A giants, Inter Milan. To win the Premier League, City shocked Arsenal. At the start of the season, City alongside Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester United were considered favorites for the title but the Gunners’ stunning start to the season and consistency beyond the middle of the season saw them emerge as not only title contenders but unlikely favorites but City’s stunning form and consistent winning run of games saw them catch and blow Arsenal away in the title race.
For the FA Cup, after beating Chelsea and Arsenal, City steamrolled Burnley to set up a final date with city rivals and in the final, they did not disappoint as two sublime volleys from captain Ilkay Gundogan earned them a hard-fought win to gift Guardiola his second FA Cup.
On the road to the Champions League final, Manchester City have not only stayed unbeaten, they decimated one of the title favorites, Bayern Munich and humiliated defending champions, Real Madrid. For Real Madrid, it was a perfect revenge as the Spanish giants dumped them out of the competition last season. Now that City is in the final, they are more than ready to run the last lap to historic glory.
Leading the charge for City’s historic treble is Norwegian striker, Erling Haaland who has literally smashed all standing goalscoring records. The summer acquisition from Dortmund scored 36 EPL goals to win the Premier League golden shoe and currently leads the UEFA Champions League goal scorers with 12 goals. Where would City be without Erling Haaland, maybe not Premier League champions and on the road to a treble. Another key performer for City has been their talismanic midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne. His stunning 3 goals against Arsenal over two legs and the stunning equalizer against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu are just few of the deciding moments that have helped shaped City’s ambitious treble push.
City are more than ready for the treble onslaught having attempted it previously but fell short. On those occasions, they had to settle for a domestic treble (Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup). Should Manchester City beat Inter Milan at Istanbul at the weekend, they would equal Manchester United’s treble record of 1999 while still holding on to their record of being the first and only English team to have won a domestic treble.
Written by Kolade Omotoso (Twitter ~ @Nubianprinz)
