Pep Guardiola has warned Manchester City are addicted to winning and will not settle for simply retaining their Premier League crown.
City secured a second successive title by just one point with Sunday’s 4-1 triumph at Brighton, pipping Liverpool who ended up second with a stunning 97 points.
Manchester City are the first team to retain the Premier League title in a decade (Nick Potts/PA)
Sergio Aguero, Aymeric Laporte, Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan all hit the net as City stormed home at the Amex Stadium.
City rattled off 14 successive victories to seal the title, with Guardiola then admitting his players and coaches are nowhere near satisfied.
“Well I’m not going to deny it is exhausting, but winning is so addictive and now we have the chance to win the FA Cup and a treble,” said Guardiola.
“Then we have to make decisions for next season to come back strong. Liverpool will maintain and so we have to be better.
“Competitive people are never satisfied, it’s never enough. We want more and more.
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“And that’s why the second one, to make it back to back shows me this kind of thing. It shows me it wasn’t enough (for the players), that one wasn’t enough.”
Bumps for the boss! 🙌— Manchester City (@ManCity) May 12, 2019
Glenn Murray headed Brighton into the lead to hand City a scare, but that fright lasted just 83 seconds.
Aguero buried the visitors’ first chance, and after Laporte headed in from a corner, Guardiola’s men never relented.
City have racked up 198 points across their back-to-back title victories, with Guardiola admitting Liverpool’s chase has driven his side to new levels this term.
City’s madcap celebrations included Oasis star Noel Gallagher belting out his classic hit Wonderwall with the squad in the dressing room. They then flew back to Manchester to continue the party with around 10,000 City fans at a hastily-arranged event at the Etihad Stadium.
Guardiola was keen for his players to enjoy the moment, but then admitted City will quickly refocus on completing that unprecedented domestic treble.
“No teams in England have done that before, so we have to challenge, compete and be focused on this game,” said Guardiola, looking ahead to next week’s Wembley date with Watford.
“Of course the FA Cup isn’t easy to achieve getting to the final and we are going to go to try to win.”
Manchester City’s celebrations continued back at the Etihad Stadium (Anthony Devlin/PA)
When asked if Guardiola’s City side will go down as the best in English history, he simply suggested being in the conversation is all anyone can ask.
“When people suggest you can be one of the best, that’s enough,” said Guardiola. “But we had this in Barcelona too.
“If in 10, 15, 20 years people talk about this team, it’s because we were good.
“Like books, movies, if they sustain the passage of time, if after 25 years people are watching the same movie, reading the same book. If people still talk about this team after that time, then it deserves to be considered alongside the best Man United, the best Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal.”
Captain Vincent Kompany, who has now won four Premier League titles, spoke of his pride as he led the evening celebrations on stage back at the Etihad at around 10.45pm.
“I am so proud,” he said. “This team is amazing. We’re able to fill this place at this time of night – thank you so much. This is amazing.”
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