Do Manchester City NEED European Glory?

Manchester City completed their domestic treble at the weekend, and they did so in a pretty emphatic manner. They absolutely trounced Watford 6-0 in the FA Cup Final at Wembley, which goes pretty nicely alongside their Premier League and League Cup success. The accomplishment of knowing that they were able to capture three trophies will surely stick with this group of players forever, but as reported by BBC, manager Pep Guardiola still believes that his club aren’t going to get the respect they deserve until they win one more trophy.

European desires

The trophy in question, of course, is the Champions League. City have done everything they could to find success in English football over the last nine months, but courtesy of their loss to Tottenham Hotspur over two legs at the quarter final stage, they weren’t able to add the European Cup to their last of achievements.

Alan Shearer of the BBC seems to believe that this City team is the best ever in terms of the Premier League, but of course, it’s hard to pretend like there isn’t a certain level of disappointment regarding the Champions League. It’s great for the English game that so many different teams are flourishing at the highest level, but Pep knows what a win in Europe (on that scale) would do for this club.

Becoming the champions of Europe always felt like their main goal when they were taken over all those years ago, and whilst they’ve had a few memorable results in European competition over the years, they just haven’t quite been able to take that next step. In fact, they haven’t even been able to reach the final yet.

It’s worth repeating that the domestic treble is an absolutely outstanding accomplishment, though, because it’s a testament to the overwhelming strength and consistency of this squad.

City fans have had a major taste of the high life in recent years and they won’t want it to end, and thankfully for them, it really doesn’t seem like there’s any kind of end in sight.

Going for gold

“This comes with me. I know that. I arrive in Barcelona, we were lucky we won it two times in four years and the people expect I am something special that we have to win the Champions League and it’s still true. “In this club, the points record and the domestic competitions is incredible, but the Champions League we don’t win quite often compared to the other ones because the teams are so good, the competition is so demanding but we want to win it.”

Those are the words of Mr Guardiola himself, and it’s really nice to see him being so open and honest about this. It’s not like it’s some big secret that they would’ve wanted to capture the trophy, so why try and hide away from it? City are in a position now whereby they should be spoken about on the same level as Real Madrid and Barcelona – but they aren’t. Why? Because they haven’t even come close to troubling them on the grandest stage of them all.

With the summer transfer window ahead, their loyal supporters will be hoping that changes soon.