RODRI has warned Manchester City’s rivals that his team have the right mentality to win the Treble.
Pep Guardiola’s hopes of landing the big three — Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup — have been boosted significantly over the last few days.
First, Prem leaders Arsenal dropped two vital points at Anfield on Sunday, meaning defending their domestic crown is now back in City’s own hands.
Then on Tuesday evening, Rodri’s stunning opener set the ball rolling on a thrilling 3-0 win over Bayern Munich — which saw them plant one foot in the Champions League semi-finals.
City’s next challenge comes against Premier League relegation strugglers Leicester on Saturday — and the Spanish midfielder claims their full focus must be on the Foxes.
Rodri said: “We don’t value any competition over another. We are alive in all three — and will fight until the end for all of them.
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“Our aim is to go game by game, we don’t think beyond that. We are now back to the Premier League and an intense battle for the title — but our mentality is to win everything.
“Of course, it would be very special to win our first Champions League.
“We are on the right path and, if we continue like this, we will have chances at the end of the season.”
If they are to scoop the lot, City may have to win as many as 15 more matches over the next eight weeks.
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In the next ten days they face Leicester in the Prem, Bayern in a quarter-final second leg and Championship outfit Sheffield United in an FA Cup semi-final.
Boss Guardiola has always maintained that winning the three major trophies in one season is close to impossible for an English side.
But defender John Stones, who almost played alongside Rodri in midfield against Bayern, says that is their target.
He explained: “We always set high standards for ourselves and try to push for every competition we are in. That’s been happening the seven years I’ve been here.
“We fight for everything. My goal is to win all three that we’re in.”
Of all the three still open for City, it is no secret that they would love to win the Champions League for the first time.
Stones added: “The dream is alive. We take it one game at a time and there’s a lot of steps to get to the final.
“We have to take those small steps and do the job that is in front of us to eventually get there.”
While City will take a three-goal lead to Germany next week, they plan to attack Bayern in the Allianz Arena rather than looking to hold what they have.
Stones added: “It’s never over and that’s the mentality we come with.
“It’s a great result and sets us up for the next leg but we know we need to go there and get a result again — because this competition throws curveballs.”
Bernardo Silva — scorer of City’s second goal on Tuesday — said the heartbreaking defeat at Real Madrid in last year’s semi-final shows they can take nothing for granted.
The English side had a 5-3 aggregate lead heading into injury time in the Bernabeu but crashed out in dramatic fashion, losing 6-5 over two legs after extra time.
Bernardo says that is a major warning ahead of Wednesday’s second leg in Germany.
The Portuguese ace said: “It’s not over because we’ve had a lot of experience in this competition that shows us what happens in the first game doesn’t matter.
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“It’s a very good advantage for the second leg. But as an example, the game against Real Madrid last season — everybody said it was over and then in the last five minutes everything changed.
“If you want to win this competition you have to be smart, you have to be ready for every type of occasion.”
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
