Gundogan eyes 4-trophy sweep despite Guardiola's doubts
Pep Guardiola is insistent that talk of Manchester City winning four trophies is unrealistic, but Ilkay Gundogan is targeting a clean sweep.
Ilkay Gundogan says Manchester City are targeting winning four trophies this season, although manager Pep Guardiola has regularly cast doubts on his side's chances of acheiving the quadruple. Before City moved into the fourth round of the FA Cup with a 4-1 defeat of Burnley on Saturday, Guardiola claimed he would need 32 players to keep City challenging on multiple front.
Guardiola's City running away with the league
City are a whopping 15 points clear at the top of the Premier League table and were handed a highly winnable Last 16 tie against Basel in the Champions League's first knockout round. Guardiola failed to win a trophy in his first season in English football but will lead his side into the first leg of an EFL Cup semi-final against Championship side Bristol City on Tuesday.
And Gundogan has more faith than Guardiola that Manchester City can end the season with the EFL Carabao Cup, FA Cup, Champions League and Premier League titles to their name. "It's a positive thing being in more competitions," he told reporters after providing two assists for Sergio Aguero against Burnley. We have a deep squad and it feels every change can put something new into our squad. It doesn't make us weaker in my opinion. All competitions are very difficult, but we have chances [to win all four]. If we're able to play as we did in the last five or six months, then our chances increase, so that's our target.
David Silva's unavailability due to personal reasons, coupled with City's busy festive schedule, has provided more opportunities in the City midfield for Gundogan, with the Germany international keen to stake his claim for more regular first-team action.
"I think the more games we have, the more opportunities there are to change players," the former Borussia Dortmund man added. "If we have less games, then a player or two or three players, will sit on the bench unsatisfied with their situation. But we have a lot of games and we just have to change, because a player cannot play every single game. So if a player is playing more, he's going to be happier. That was also my own situation over the last month. I was quite sure we were going to have many games and always have the opportunity for me to play, to get minutes, to get a rhythm. When I don't play I'm not the happiest person on earth, but the next day I'm convinced my chance will come again and I'm going to play again."
Bristol City knocked out City's rivals Manchester United in the quarter-finals and Gundogan is taking nothing for granted, even though his side will be expected to reach the EFL Carabao Cup final. "I've watched the highlights," he continued. "But just the fact they beat United shows we need to take this game very seriously. They showed they are able to break teams so we are aware of it. But despite all these facts, our aim is to beat them. We are in the semis now and we want to go to the final and win it."