Pep Guardiola reckons the Premier League he won this season has been the ‘toughest’ of his entire career.
The Spaniard collected the trophy yesterday, after his Manchester City side did what they needed to at Brighton – winning 4-1 after conceding the first goal.
Liverpool also beat Wolves to make it 97 points overall – the third most of any side in the history of English football – but it wasn’t enough for glory.
“First of all, we have to say congratulations to Liverpool, of course, and thank you so much,” the City boss told Sky Sports.
“They helped to push us and to increase our standards from last season because to compete against this team pushed us to do what we have done.
“It’s incredible, 198 points in two seasons to go back-to-back. We made the standard higher last season and Liverpool helped us to be there all of the time.
“To win this title we had to win 14 in a row. We knew for two or three months that we couldn’t lose one point. This was the toughest title we have won in all my career by far.”
If Liverpool win the Champions League on June 1, this will still have been a beautiful season.
And if we don’t, it will be a heartbreaking but vitally important one.
City will still be incredibly strong next term, but Liverpool are not expected to lose any players of significance so will be able to challenge once again.
Naby Keita will be far better, Fabinho will be in the side from Day One, we’ll have Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain fit – and the likes of Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson will be even better.
It’s only the beginning, Reds.