Pep Guardiola issued a rallying cry for Manchester City to complete a historic treble after his team lifted the Carabao Cup on Sunday.
Aymeric Laporte’s late header was enough for City to win the trophy for the fourth time in a row against Tottenham, winning the first of three possible trophies this season.
City face Paris Saint-Germain in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday and need just two more victories in the Premier League to be champions.
‘We have won the first title and we are close to second – and then we have got Paris to try for the next one,’ said Guardiola.
‘To arrive in the last stages as we have this season and the previous season you have to take every game seriously otherwise it would be impossible to win four League Cups in a row. It’s impossible.
‘So now we just rest and prepare the semi-final against PSG and then after we are just two games away to try to win the most important title of the season – the Premier League. The Premier League is the nicest one, the one I’m the most proud of.’
On Sunday’s win over Spurs, Guardiola added: ‘We play to score and we played very well. The spirit in lockdown has been great, we played with personality and created chances. In general we played a really good final.
‘We had a lot of corners, we are not a strong team with that but he [Laporte] was there to score the goal.
‘We are happy we won, but football is the only game where we can play like new did and lose. When you play with the stats we had, the way we played – in any other sport you win. But this sport is completely special.
‘We don’t have time to work, we don’t have time to do anything. We just have time to recover and try get the team ready. Players who did not play today deserved to play but that’s the schedule.
‘You cannot arrive in last stages of all competitions with just 11, 12 or 13 players. It’s impossible. I think of all my players. It’s tough but it is what it is.
‘Everyone is involved here and we are going to try to finish the season.’
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