Man City and Pep Guardiola must learn Barcelona lesson to maintain Treble standards

Manchester City just produced a near-flawless season, but Pep Guardiola will remain hungry for more.

When the Catalan last defended a Treble, his Barcelona team fell short in two of the three competitions in which they dominated the season prior. In the Copa del Rey, the club lost out to Sevilla in the round of 16, Pep’s earliest exit in cup competition to date. As for the Champions League, Jose Mourinho’s Inter Milan famously knocked Barcelona out in the semi-finals where we saw the birth of the great Pep/Jose rivalry.

However, Guardiola’s team did successfully defend their La Liga title, and in some style. Amassing 99 points and only losing one game, Barca broke the points record in the Spanish top flight, showing no signs of complacency or fatigue in their pursuit of domestic success.

In the summer transfer window which followed Barcelona’s triumphant 08/09 season, the club spent €113.5 million on players, including Zlatan Ibrahimovic, brought in to replace the out-of-favour Samuel Eto’o. His spell at the club only lasted a year before he was loaned to AC Milan. Other signings, namely Dmytro Chygrynskiy and Keirrison, also proved fruitless.

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Pep will therefore know that for City to entrench their success as Europe’s finest team again next season, they will need to be faultless in their transfer operations this summer.

Despite playing a minimal role this season, City will not let Aymeric Laporte go without a replacement, especially if his destination is another Premier League side competing for honours.

The club are reportedly targeting Croatia and RB Leipzig centre-back Josko Gvardiol, who scored against City back in February when the sides met in