Akanji dreaming of a Man City clean sweep to end ‘perfect season’

Manuel Akanji is hoping that Manchester City can prove their class to crown a “perfect season.”

The English Premier League champions are not only fighting to retain the title they won on the final day last season, but face Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-finals and Sheffield United in an FA Cup last-four encounter at Wembley.

A treble would cap a dream debut campaign for defender Akanji, who joined last summer from Borussia Dortmund for £15 million.

“That’s what we are working for, to always be in the competitions and win the trophies,” he told Arab News in an exclusive interview.

“We are still in the FA Cup, the Champions League and the Premier League — and I hope we can win it all in the end. We want the perfect season, yes.

“We take it game by game and first we have got to focus on Southampton on Saturday and then we are looking at the Bayern game and we will see. We are on a good run now.”

After the league trip to Southampton, City host Bayern in the first leg of their last-eight tie on Tuesday.

Should they overcome the German champions, they will face 14-time winners Real Madrid in the semifinals.

That would be special for Akanji who was a fan of the Spanish giants — and their former captain Raul — as a youngster.

“When I grew up I wasn’t a defender so I didn’t really look at them,” added the 27-year-old. “I played up front, played midfield, played as a winger and sometimes as a striker as well, so my role model when I was young was Raul from Real Madrid.”

“My neighbor was a Madrid fan so I turned into one too, that’s how it is. He was a couple of years older than me so you look at what these guys are doing and I turned into a Madrid fan as well.

“Raul was the guy who scored a lot of goals