 "Man City emulate Man United's treble feat: Did you know Guardiola was 'chosen one' to replace Alex Ferguson?")
synopsis
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed that he had received a touching message from Sir Alex Ferguson before emulating the legendary Manchester United manager by winning a historic Treble.
Manchester City created history on Saturday night by becoming only the second English club after Manchester United to seal a treble after they clinched their first UEFA Champions League glory with a 1-0 win over Inter Milan in Istanbul. Following the historic feat, Pep Guardiola revealed he had received a touching message from Sir Alex Ferguson before emulating the legendary Manchester United manager's 1999 feat by winning the treble.
"It's an honour for me to be alongside Sir Alex Ferguson. I got a message from him this morning. It touched me. It was nice," the Manchester City boss told after the historic night.
The lone goal was scored in the 68th minute by fellow countryman Rodri, giving the 52-year-old Spaniard at Manchester City the collection he had been seeking. Guardiola has now achieved 12 major trophies for City and has imitated Alex Ferguson, whose Manchester United team won the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League treble in 1999.
Additionally, Guardiola is the only coach to capture two trebles after managing Barcelona to the Spanish version in 2009, winning La Liga, Copa del Rey, and Champions League. Only Carlo Ancelotti, with four, has won more Champions League championships as a manager than Guardiola, who has now won three of them.
Interestingly, Guardiola was said to be the 'chosen one' to replace Sir Alex Ferguson at Old Trafford when the legendary boss retired in 2013. In his book "Leading", released in 2015, Manchester United's longest-serving manager outlines the selection process behind David Moyes' ill-fated appointment at Old Trafford. Ferguson had revealed that Moyes was sixth on a list of ideal replacements headed by Pep Guardiola and four others, who were all "unavailable" at the time.
"I asked Pep to phone me before he accepted an offer from another club but he didn't and wound up joining Bayern Munich in July 2013," Ferguson wrote.
"When we started the process of looking for my replacement, we established that several very desirable candidates were unavailable. It became apparent that Jose Mourinho had given his word to Roman Abramovich that he would return to Chelsea, and that Carlo Ancelotti would succeed him at Real Madrid," Ferguson added.
"We also knew that Jurgen Klopp was happy at Borussia Dortmund and would be signing a new contract. Meantime, Louis van Gaal had undertaken to lead the Dutch attempt to win the 2014 World Cup," the former Man United boss added.
Eventually, Pep Guardiola took over the reigns at Manchester City in 2016, and since then team has had an unstoppable run. "Tired. Calm. Satisfied. It's so difficult to win it," said an emotional Guardiola after hugging every one of his players and the club's hierarchy following the historic treble.
"Inter are really good. Be patient, I said at halftime. You have to be lucky. This competition is a coin toss. It was written in the stars. It belongs to us," the Man City boss added.
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