Football: Why Champions League title matters for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola

Manchester City’s Champions League victory makes them champions of Europe. Sunday’s win over Italy’s Inter Milan also helped them complete a continental treble, having won the English Premier League and the Football Association (FA) Cup. What makes it unique? It’s the first treble by an English club since Manchester United’s feat in 1999.

If you are a football buff, you already know this. If not, here’s a lowdown on the Champions League and European clubs.

A brief history of Manchester City

Manchester City Football Club is a top-flight English club competing in the English Premier League. Founded as St Marks in 1880, the club evolved into Ardwick Association Football Club in 1887 and Manchester City in 1894.

Ardwick AFC, a founding member of the second division of the English Footballer League in 1892, won the championship as Manchester City two years later and earned a promotion. The FA Cup win in 1904 was their first major trophy.

After winning several trophies in the late sixties and the early seventies, City’s fortunes plunged, and they were relegated before bouncing back in 2002-03. They have remained a permanent fixture in the Premier League since the move to the Etihad Stadium in east Manchester from Maine Road, which was their home since 1923.

Manchester City became a hot favourite to win the Premier League after it was bought by Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al Nahyan, UAE Vice-President, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Presidential Affairs, in 2008. Under the Abu Dhabi United Group, City prospered. The arrival of Pep Guardiola made them major contenders for the Champions League, which they won on June 11, 2023.

Who’s Pep Guardiola?

Pep Guardiola is a superstar manager. A former Spanish footballer and a lynchpin in the Barcelona FC Dream Team managed by Dutch footballer and coach Johan Cryuff, Guardiola earned his coaching stripes with the Barcelona B team before taking over the senior squad.

He won the continental treble in his first year as senior coach in the 2008-09 season and claimed his second Champions League trophy in 2010-11. After a record 14 trophies in four seasons, Guardiola left Barcelona in 2012.

A sabbatical followed before he took charge of Bayern Munich in 2013 and guided them to seven trophies, including three Bundesliga titles. But he could not win the Champions League as Bayern crashed out in the semifinals several times.

The Champions League drought followed Guardiola to Manchester City, losing the final to Chelsea in 2021 before winning this year. Over the six seasons since he signed up in 2016, City have won five Premier League titles.

How Manchester City’s fortunes changed

Manchester City have won nine league titles, seven FA Cups, eight League Cups, six FA Community Shields, one European Cup Winners’ Cup, and one Champions League. Much of that success came after the club came under the ownership of the Under the Abu Dhabi United Group.

Under Guardiola’s management, City won the Premier League in 2018 with more than 100 points, the only club to do it. In the following season, City raked in an unprecedented four trophies in domestic competitions, including the English treble.

After surrendering the league title to Liverpool, City came charging back to win three EPL trophies in a row. City lost their first-ever Champions League final in 2021 but amends two years later with the continental treble.

Why the Champions League matters to Manchester City?

Winning the Champions League is the ultimate goal of every top football club in Europe. City has never claimed the title, which makes the 2023 win in Ankara, Turkey, special.

A Champions League trophy was one of the aims of the Abu Dhabi United Group after it bought Manchester City in 2008. The pursuit gained urgency after Guardiola joined City in 2016. The Spaniard won everything in England, but the Champions League title eluded.

That gave the critics plenty to carp about. They attributed his two Champions League wins with Barcelona to the genius of Lionel Messi and the dream team, which included stalwarts like Iniesta, Xavi Hernandez, and Carlos Puyol, among others. His inability to win Europe’s top trophy with Bayern Munich only fuelled the argument, which continued as Manchester City repeatedly faltered.

The 2021 loss to Chelsea hurt Guardiola, who famously said teams must suffer before winning the Champions League. On Sunday, Manchester City suffered again. In the final, they could not replicate the resplendent form of the season and endured close calls against Inter. In the end, the Rodri strike was sufficient for the Manchester City players to bask in the glory of a Champions League win.

Guardiola would have heaved a sigh of relief as the final whistle rang out. The win makes the arguably the best manager in the world. Manchester City were deserving winners.

What’s treble in football?

A treble occurs when a team wins three trophies. A domestic treble should include the league, the main national cup and the secondary national cup, according to goal.com. In England, the domestic treble is the Premier League, FA Cup and Carabao Cup (League Cup). There’s no domestic treble in Spain or Germany like in England, but there’s a third competition.

The continental treble includes the Champions League. The Europa League is also considered, but it doesn’t carry the same weight as the Champions League. A genuine continental treble consists of a league win, the main national cup and the main continental competition, which is the Champions League.

Which teams have won the treble?

The eight teams which have won the continental treble are Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Celtic, Inter Milan, Manchester United, Manchester City and PSV Eindhoven.

Barcelona and Bayern Munich have scored the treble twice. The first of Barcelona’s trebles came under the stewardship of Pep Guardiola (2008-09), and their second was achieved under Luis Enrique (2014-15).

Jupp Heynckes steered Bayern to their first treble in 2012-13, and Hans-Dieter Flick took them to their second in 2019-20.

Celtic’s treble came in 1966-67 with the European Cup, while Ajax’s was in 1971-72. Alex Ferguson helped deliver Manchester United’s treble in 1998-99, while Manchester City landed theirs in 2022-23 under Guardiola, who steered them to a domestic treble in 2018-19.

What’s the Champions League?

The Champions League is an annual football competition for the best clubs from Europe’s top leagues. The tournament started in 1955 as the European Cup (until 1992), with 16 teams competing in four knockout rounds. Real Madrid won the inaugural event.

It was expanded to 32 teams in 1960 with an additional round. In 1992, UEFA (Union of European Football Associations) changed the name of the tournament to the UEFA Champions League, and a group stage was introduced for the first round with eight groups of four teams each.

After a double round-robin format, the winners and runners-up of each group advance to the knockout round of 16. The final is played at a venue chosen by the UEFA Executive Committee Meeting several years in advance.

How do teams qualify for the Champions League?

Twenty-four clubs gain entry through their domestic league, while previous Champions League winners and Europa League winners are guaranteed spots. The top four teams in the Premier League (England), La Liga (Spain), Serie A (Italy) and Bundesliga (Germany) will qualify for the group stage. Two automatic spots go to clubs in France and Portugal. The league winners from the Netherlands, Austria, Serbia and Scotland also get berths.

Which clubs have won the most Champions League titles?

Spain’s Real Madrid is the most successful team, with 14 titles. Called the Los Blancos, their first title came in 1956 and followed it with four more in a row.

Italy’s AC Milan are second with seven titles. English club Liverpool have six, and so does the German side Bayern Munich.

Who are the managers with the most Champions League trophies?

Italian Carlo Ancelotti secured four titles as a manager. He won the first two at AC Milan (2003, 2007) and the last two with Real Madrid (2014, 2022). Pep Guardiola (Barcelona, Manchester City), Bob Paisley (Liverpool) and Zinedine Zidane (Real Madrid) have won three each.

Which are the top-flight leagues in Europe?

1. Premier League (England): The English Premier League, which involves 20 clubs, is the most competitive in Europe. Each club plays 38 home and away matches in seasons starting in August and concluding in May. The EPL is the most-watched football league in the world, with a global audience of more than 1.35 billion.

2. La Liga (Spain): Founded in 1929, La Liga is home to two of the biggest football clubs in the world — Real Madrid and Barcelona, who have combined 54 league titles. The league attracts some of the best footballers in the world. Spanish teams have combined for 22 European trophies, with 14 won from the Champions League and eight won from Europa League.

3. Serie A (Italy): The top football league in Italy includes iconic clubs such as Juventus, AC Milan, and Inter Milan. The popularity of Serie A, which has produced some of the greatest defenders, dwindled due to some scandals, but it is gaining in stature again.

4. Bundesliga (Germany): Established by the Deutscher Football-Bund in 1962 in Dortmund, the structure of the Bundesliga has undergone several changes over the years. It’s the hardest league to score, and Bundesliga has produced some of the finest footballers in the world.

5. Ligue 1 (France): The football league in France hosts teams like Paris Saint-Germain, and Marseille is the most successful club with ten league titles. Launched in 1932, it was named National and renamed Division 1 a year later.

Which are some of the top clubs in Europe?

1. Premier League (England): Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea, Manchester United and Liverpool

2. La Liga (Spain): Barcelona and Real Madrid have combined for 54 league titles in the Spanish League. Athletico Madrid, Espanyol, Betis and Celta Vigo are some of the other teams.

3. Serie A (Italy): AC Milan, Inter Milan, Juventus, Napoli, AS Roma and SS Lazio.

4. Bundesliga (Germany): Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, RP Leipzig, Bayer 04 Leverkusen, VfL Worfsburg and VfB Stuttgart

5. Ligue 1 (France): Paris Saint Germain, Lille, . AS Saint-Étienne, Marseille, Monaco and Lyon.

Which are the oldest clubs in Europe?

England is the home of football, the most popular sport in the world. Called the beautiful game, football’s lure goes beyond nations and people. Little wonder, it’s called the universal game.