Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola won a Treble with Barcelona during the 2008-09 season, and he now has his current team still in contention for not just a Treble, but also a Quadruple. City are just two victories away from claiming the 138th ever FA Cup title, and the next step is a semi-final clash versus Brighton & Hove Albion Saturday evening at the national stadium.
Guardiola met the media today ahead of the Cup clash and during the session he discussed his intrigue with two Treble winning teams- Bayern Munich 2012-13 (the year before the Spaniard assumed the reigns of the club) and 1998-99 Manchester United.
Guardiola is “curious” about those two legendary teams, and what lessons he might learn from them which could help his side make history.
“I’m quite curious about the teams that achieved something good,” Guardiola said on Friday.
“For the reason why and what they have done. It’s clear that winning the Treble is not easy.”
“It happened in Germany, I went there the year after Jupp Heynckes got it. I like to know the way they did it. And every time, when I look at these kind of big, big issues, always it’s tough.
“There are always moments where you will be lucky, and having personalities in the big moments can help the team to achieve. But I cannot compare us with what United have done. They have done what we haven’t.”
City have already won the EFL Cup, and are consensus favorites to win both the Premier League title and the UEFA Champions League.
Brighton & Hove Albion vs Manchester City FA Cup Semifinal FYIs
Kick-off: Saturday April 6, Wembley Stadium 5:30 pm GMT
MCFC Starting XI Prediction: go to this link
Injury Report for both sides: go to this link
Betting Odds: According to The Action Network, Manchester City have been the odds on favorites throughout the entire tournament and are now priced at -275 to lift the FA Cup at the end.
Final Score Prediction: City 2, Brighton 0
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.