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Pep Guardiola has dismissed talk of Manchester City achieving a treble this season, saying his players must “forget about it” after a 3-0 win at EFL Championship side Bristol City secured a place in the FA Cup quarterfinals.
Two goals from Phil Foden and a second-half strike from Kevin De Bruyne sealed victory to keep City on course for success in three competitions — the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup.
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But City manager Guardiola, who guided Barcelona to a league, cup and Champions League treble in 2009, said that focusing on a repeat at City would be too much of a distraction.
“No, forget about it [treble],” Guardiola said. “Forget it. When you start to talk about that, you start to lose competitions and drop competitions.
“We are not ready. Not even one second to think about that, we just think about [next game against] Newcastle.
“The only thing I said many times — I’m so annoyed to say it again and again and again and again after what happened in the last years — we are still right now, one more year being there two, three months away to finish the season, we are still in three competitions.
“That is the biggest credit. This is the biggest title. The biggest one. I know we cannot drop points in the Premier League because we have on top of us a team [Arsenal] and [Manchester] United is coming from behind.
“And Champions league, we see what happen in two weeks. What is important is we are there, but of course, we are going to continue as long as possible.”
Man City trail Premier League leaders Arsenal by two points, having played a game more, and are tied 1-1 going into the second leg of their Champions League round of 16 tie with RB Leipzig at the Etihad Stadium in two weeks’ time.
Guardiola, meanwhile, praised Foden for his performance after handing the England winger a rare start at Ashton Gate.
“Dynamic, rhythm, work rate, his quality,” Guardiola said. “His career was always up, up, up. This season he struggled a bit and was a bit down. But now he’s back for the best bit of the season.
“His impact has been amazing. Football pays off when you work like he does.”