Pep Guardiola admits Manchester City’s treble success is a ‘once in a lifetime’ achievement and one impossible to repeat this season.
City became just the second English club to win a Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble last season, matching the feat of Manchester United during the 1998/99 campaign.
The club’s success in Europe was their first Champions League triumph and ended an elusive wait for success in the competition, in a campaign which saw City recognised as the finest team in European football.
City are aiming to become the first team in history to win four consecutive English top-flight titles this season and will begin their defence of the Premier League at Burnley on Friday evening.
Asked for his expectations for the new campaign, Guardiola admitted last season’s success will be impossible to replicate.
“It will not be possible to do what we did last season; it is once in a lifetime,” The Spaniard told his pre-match press conference.
“We climbed the highest mountain last season, but in the last two days we came down from it and now we start again.
“Everyone has the same intention and there will be a lot of difficulties to climb the mountain as high as possible. Our football, our level, our mentality will dictate how the season will be.”
