Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has told his players to forget thinking about repeating the Treble they achieved last season, as they prepare to face Burnley on Friday night.
City concluded an historic 2022/23 season by winning their first UEFA Champions League title as well as a seventh Premier League and the FA Cup.
However, ahead of their opening match of the 2023/24 Premier League, Guardiola has been quick to warn his players that it is unlikely they will be able to achieve this feat for a second consecutive season.
‘We start again with same intention’
“It’s once in a lifetime [winning the Treble], I said to the players forget it,” he told City's official website. “We climbed the highest mountain but now we come down the mountain and we start again with the same intention.
“It feels like it finished yesterday but we start again from zero and try to play game by game.”
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City start their campaign with a trip to Vincent Kompany’s Burnley.
‘He destroyed the Championship’
Kompany, who once captained City and lifted four Premier League Trophies at the club, steered Burnley to an immediate return to the Premier League, winning the Championship title.
Guardiola is sure that his former skipper will be looking to cause an upset on the opening day.
See: Kompany: I want my players to relish City test
“He destroyed the Championship,” Guardiola said. "Since day one it was win, win, win and it’s so difficult in this competition.
“The style from Vinny, he’s done an incredible job. It will be a tough game.
“Normally the first games are difficult, especially against newly promoted teams. They have energy and want to start well.”
Gvardiol 'ready and available’
Guardiola has said that Josko Gvardiol, the central defender signed from RB Leipzig this week for a reported £77.6million is “ready and available” for the Burnley match.
But he refused to comment upon reports linking City to a move for West Ham United midfielder Lucas Paqueta.