Manchester City reach 1,000 goals under Pep Guardiola
Ilkay Gundogan’s strike against Liverpool brought up the incredible milestone. We break down the first thousand goals from Guardiola’s time in Manchester...
Manchester City kept up the pressure on league leaders Arsenal with a comprehensive 4-1 win over Liverpool on Saturday. City are going for their fifth Premier League title in just six seasons and reached a major milestone during the win.
Under the Spaniard’s leadership, Manchester City have now scored a thousand goals in less than seven seasons.
Ilkay Gundogan’s 53rd-minute strike brought up the milestone for Guardiola’s City and Jack Grealish secured the victory with number 1,001 with 15 minutes to go. Guardiola has transformed English football since his arrival and his sides have racked up some truly astonishing number in that time.
With thanks to our friends at Sofascore, we take a look at Guardiola’s 1,000 City goals...
City’s ‘Centurions’ of 2017/18 hold the record for the most goals in a single Premier League season with 106 in 38 games. They also boast the best goal difference in a Premier League campaign, finishing that season on +79. However the following year they scored even more in all competitions, plundering 176 goals.
Throughout his time at the club Guardiola has been blessed with some of the finest attackers in world football and he has taken many of them to new heights. Sergio Aguero became City’s all-time record goalscorer during his time in charge and it is no surprise to see that the Argentine also ranks number one under Guardiola.
The biggest win of Guardiola’s seven seasons in charge came in September 2019 when City beat Watford 8-0 at the Etihad. There were goals for three of Guardiola’s top five City scorers - Aguero, De Bruyne, Mahrez - and Bernardo Silva scored a hat trick. After the game, the City boss said that his side had “proved” something with their imperious performance.
Guardiola: Winning the Treble is “so difficult”
City have been the dominant force in the Premier League during Guardiola’s time in Manchester and they boast a domestic record up there with the very best in English football history.
However his team have struggled to translate that dominance into continental success, managing just a single appearance in the Champions League final.
“I’ve said many times, just one team has won the Treble because it’s so difficult,” Guardiola said, when asked about it ahead of the Liverpool clash.
“That’s why we don’t think [about it]… We have this game then a long week and then a tough schedule.”
The only English side to win all three major honours in a single season was the Manchester United side of 1998/99. City still have a chance of repeating that incredible feat this season with crucial games in the Champions League and FA Cup coming up.
In Europe they face perennial German champions Bayern Munich, who recently installed former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel as manager. Tuchel led the Chelsea side that defeated City in their single Champions League final appearance to date.