Erling Haaland has claimed that Manchester City’s upcoming opponents will want to stop the club securing a potential treble.
Having won the Premier League title last month, the Citizens have the chance of winning the FA Cup by beating Manchester United at Wembley Stadium tomorrow, followed by next weekend’s Champions League final in Istanbul against Inter Milan.
Looking ahead to these two big games, one City player has shared their thoughts on the crucial period facing Pep Guardiola’s side.
Haaland says he’s wary of United and Inter
Speaking to BBC Sport, Haaland said this about potentially winning the treble and the challenges facing them in doing so.
He said: “It would be unreal to make this history. This is why they bought me of course, to get this, we don’t have to hide that. It would mean everything. I will do everything I possibly can to try to make it happen.
“It’s my biggest dream and hopefully dreams do come true. But as well it’s not easy – it’s two finals against two good teams that will do everything they can to try to destroy that. They will be motivated, they will be ready and we have to play at our best, because if we play at our best we have a really good chance of achieving exactly that.
“We’ve been chasing the whole season so when we won the Premier League it was a big relief. Now we’ve got two finals left and now the only thing we can focus on is these two finals before the vacation.”
Bearing in mind how United won the treble back in 1999 and are the only club in English football to do so, stopping their rivals from potentially doing the same will undeniably give them extra motivation heading into Saturday’s FA Cup final.
Then with the Champions League final, from Inter’s perspective, the opportunity to be crowned as the best team in Europe will surely be a motivator for the Italian side, especially by beating a Guardiola team in doing so.
Focusing on the first final against Erik ten Hag’s side, City will have confidence that they can beat their close rivals after scoring six goals against them in their first league meeting back in October.
However, having then lost to the Red Devils at Old Trafford in January, this shows that United are capable of picking up a result against Guardiola’s side, which, if it were to happen again tomorrow, would bring an end to City’s hopes of winning the treble.
