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Rob DawsonCorrespondent
Pep Guardiola said Manchester City are “far away” from winning the treble this season and added that his players are tired ahead of their FA Cup semifinal with Sheffield United.
It’s a feat which has only been achieved once before by Manchester United in 1999 but City have all three trophies in their sights ahead of the run-in.
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They are into the semifinals of the FA Cup and Champions League and sit four points behind Arsenal in the Premier League but Guardiola is talking down their chances of making history.
“Look how far away we are before we talk about that,” Guardiola told a news conference on Friday, “Just 11 games, yeah, yeah, just 11 games. We’re far away.
“I’ve said many times, how many times in this amazing country have a treble been done? It’s one. Our neighbours.”
City booked a Champions League semifinal against Real Madrid after knocking out one of the favourites in the competition, Bayern Munich, on Wednesday.
The squad will have two days to prepare for their FA Cup semifinal against Championship side Sheffield United on Saturday and Guardiola has suggested his players are already exhausted after a hectic campaign.
“Last season we arrived here [in the semifinals of the FA Cup] last three or four years, and we don’t perform well,” said the City manager.
“One reason is the fatigue and this year we still have it. The Champions League quarterfinal is so draining and we have to recover.
“Every season I have the feeling we’re not physically ready, hopefully this time we will be.
“On the other side it’s amazing to be here knowing we can reach a final. When you have this desire to still be there the fatigue converts to energy, something positive. We fight every game to be there.
“The human being has an incredible ability to regenerate if the mind is positive.”
City under Guardiola have dominated English football but have only lifted the FA Cup once during his spell in charge.
They’ve lost in the semifinals for the last three years, with the game usually falling on the weekend following a Champions League quarterfinal — as it has done again this year.
“I have to see I have to smell how the players are doing,” added Guardiola. “After Munich they couldn’t even celebrate because they were so tired.
“They didn’t have as much sequences on the ball to rest on the ball, they had to run a lot. We will train and I will have to talk to some.
“Of course they will lie and say they want to play but we will have to make sure they’re in the best condition. It’s not just this game but we have played many, many games every three, four days knowing if we lose we’re out. It’s fatigue. We will have to see.”
