Man City lifted the FA Cup on Saturday to finish a glorious season in style.
By trouncing Watford 6-0 at the Wembley final, Pep Guardiola’s side became the first English men’s team to complete the domestic treble.
Happy faces all round then, right?
Well, umm…
While his players celebrated their sixth goal of the game with just minutes to go before the full-time whistle, TV cameras picked up Guardiola on the sidelines looking less than impressed with his head in his hands.
And then later, with the pitch covered in blue and white confetti and his men wearing their medals, the gaffer could be spotted giving hat-trick hero Raheem Sterling a bit of a dressing down.
Check it out.
Guardiola’s passionate pursuit of excellence really does know no bounds, huh?
The moment really summed up Pep, his winning mentality and the work he puts in to improve his players – especially the younger players, like Sterling.
You might remember he did something similar back when he was Bayern Munich’s manager with Joshua Kimmich – lecturing the young German just moments after the full-time whistle in a match against Borussia Dortmund.
After yesterday’s match, Pep explained his moment with Sterling to reporters, saying: “During the game I said something, he didn’t understand what I was saying.
“We won the league by one point so the distance to our contender is not big. I think we can do better. We’re gonna come back and try it again, be there to the end and try and win the title.”
Sterling gave a little bit more detail on the exchange, saying: “The first thing we came in from the World Cup and in pre-season, his mentality was straight on it again to retake the Premier League again, go again and not slip up.
“He brought fines in. Any little thing he was fining us. Keeping me on my toes.
“The majority of the time there was times I was playing and never had competition, but every summer he’s gone in and added another player.
“I’ve been on holiday and made me think it’s gonna be another tough season. Just keep improving myself week in and week out.”
It’s certainly been a season of untold excellence from the Blues, who wrapped up one of the most thrilling title showdowns for years on the last day of the campaign – despite an almighty challenge from Liverpool.
Further success in the Carabao Cup and yesterday’s FA Cup were just the cherry on top, but it’s the Champions League that still alludes them.
You get the feeling that the cardigan-wearing Catalan will have plenty of restless nights over the summer months as he rues that heartbreaking Champions League exit to Spurs.
That costly defeat means he’s fallen short in the competition since winning it with Barcelona in 2009 and 2011 – going out on eight occasions as a manage since.
Speaking earlier this week, he said: “Our standard in that competition [the Champions League] has not been as good as the rest of our work, I admit. That is something we need to address because it is still our dream to win it.”
Maybe next season, then?
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