Guardiola rubbishes ‘ridiculous’ quadruple talk at Man City

Pep Guardiola claims it would be “ridiculous” for Manchester City to start giving thought to a possible quadruple in the 2018-19 campaign.

Such an achievement remains possible at the Etihad Stadium.

Premier League, FA Cup, Carabao Cup and Champions League crowns remain up for grabs – with City seeking to stage a successful defence of two of those trophies.

They are, however, taking things one game at a time and not expecting to deliver four pieces of silverware before the end of the season.

Guardiola, whose side hold a 9-0 advantage over Burton Albion in their Carabao Cup semi-final, told Sky Sports when asked if anybody in the Blues camp believes a clean sweep is possible: “No. Definitely not. Not even their manager does. It's ridiculous.

“We are in one final. We are there, but the focus now is who the next one is, which competition and then try to do our job. We don't think about the table or which competition to choose, just do what we have to do.

“I have learned from the big clubs. I grew up at Barcelona, went to Bayern Munich and watched Real Madrid and Manchester United when I was young and didn't see them play one game like it was a holiday. That's why I learned in the academy at Barcelona that every game you have to try to win.

“That is when you become a real club, when you behave in that way.”

City have offered no indication that their last two outings that collective attention is starting to drift, with 16 goals plundered across cup meetings with Rotherham and Burton.

“It is important that we took the last two games seriously,” added Guardiola.

“We respected our opponents and played the way we have tried since we arrived here. That is the main point. To score seven and nine is because we took it seriously, if you don't do that then you cannot score this amount of goals.

“Sport is a mental approach. Everybody has an idea but when people are happy and confident…results help a lot with the mental side. Winning helps you to be more confident in the next one.”

Next up for City is a home date with Wolves on Monday, with that contest set to see the reigning Premier League champions try to cut the gap to leaders Liverpool back to four points.

“The only way to fight until the end in the Premier League is to know that if you drop points in one game then it will be almost over,” said Guardiola.

“When you are four, five, six points ahead you can drop points sometimes, it's not the best but you can. When you are behind then the team on top gets extra confidence and every time it becomes fewer games to play and it will be so difficult to catch them.”