Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admits it is an "honour" to have equalled the achievement of Sir Alex Ferguson by winning the Treble, revealing the former Manchester United boss messaged him before the Champions League final.
City became champions of Europe for the very first time on Saturday evening, beating Inter Milan 1-0 in the Champions League final in Istanbul. Rodri scored the decisive goal to complete the Treble for Guardiola's troops, following on from their Premier League and FA Cup triumphs.
United, of course, were the only previous English club to have won the three aforementioned competitions in the same season, winning the Premier League title, the FA Cup and the Champions League back in 1998/99. Just as United did in the 1999 Champions League final, City had to work hard to get themselves over the line, with Inter applying plenty of pressure in the latter stages and bringing the best out of Ederson.
For Guardiola, it marked the third Champions League triumph of his managerial career after winning the competition twice during his time at Barcelona. Nevertheless, to have won it again in a Treble-winning campaign made it all the more special for the Catalan.
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Guardiola said: "I can't wait to be on the bus with the three trophies. It's an honour for me to be like Sir Alex Ferguson – he sent me a message this morning (Saturday)."
Manchester has now become just the second city in history to have had two of its clubs win the Champions League. Milan was the only previous city to have achieved that feat, with AC and Inter having won the competition 10 times between them.
Guardiola added: "Sometimes it looks like this competition this year, this final was written in the stars. The goal, the chances they had. Ederson's save where in extra time you could lose the game.
"I will be the same person and we will be the same team and we will be the same club. Today was our year, but in the past to do it of course we are incredibly satisfied to achieve something unique, the Treble for this club."
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