As the current champions get ready to begin their title defense, Pep Guardiola remarked that winning just one Champions League did not constitute “anything special” for Manchester City.
As part of a historic treble, City won the top trophy in club football in Europe for the first time in June by defeating Inter Milan 1-0 in the final in Istanbul.
Red Star Belgrade will take on Guardiola’s team on Tuesday at the Etihad, where they have won each of their five Premier League games thus far.
It’s amazing that our club won the Champions League, the City manager told reporters on Monday. “However, how many groups have only captured one Champions League?” A lot.
But there are many things to win 2, 3, 4, and 5. In the grand scheme of things, we only did one thing special. Because the club lacked it for us, being a part of that makes me proud.
With 14 Champions League victories, Real Madrid holds the most, followed by AC Milan with seven. Bayern Munich and Liverpool each have six.
Given that their most recent victory came after years of excruciating close calls, Guardiola predicted that his squad could find it easier to retain their trophy than to win it for the first time.
He stated, “Winning the first one is the hardest thing.
Wembley will host the Champions League final this year, but Guardiola claimed he wasn’t thinking about that.
We didn’t consider that, he admitted. “Take the opening one. When you are in the quarterfinals and semifinals, you must have the final in mind. It’s been a while since the first game in these months. Still a very, very, very long time.
