3 back to back PLs, just won the treble and they’re still playing as if they had been missing on the league for half a decade, even without some key players. It’s ridiculous.
I remember Inter’s 2010-2011 side, who were still fresh from winning the treble and 5 scudetti in a row, and they were pretty spineless tbh. Did a decent season anyway, winning Copa Italia and making it to QF in the UCL, but didn’t seem much interested in defending any of their competitions including Serie A, which Milan won comfortably.
I know Mourinho left and also, there have been a couple of treble-winning sides since then who did just fine. But honestly, how common is it in sports to retain the same drive, even after achieving massive success? Not so common I’d say. It’s pretty unbelievable, regardless of what you may think of City.
City is a well-oiled machine. Simple as. They basically hired all the crew that made Barca great from the late 00s and they spent every damn cent in a very efficient way. City is insane as it’s the only team in history to have 22 world class players in their squad. Even the most legendary teams like the 70s-80s Liverpool, SAF’s Man U reign, Both AC Milan dream teams or Messi’s Barca had 15 world class players at most. Now, this isn’t to knock on their success as it is extremely hard to motivate 22 stars every season in a league where they steamroll everyone. Pep is a good coach, the sporting and business departments are well-oiled machines second to none in their spending bracket. State of the art facilities, scouting methods, negotiators and a seemingly endless bag of cash. Players also have insane bonuses on their contracts and once they’re set are hardly seen as disposable unless they defy the boss. They’ve also created a fantastic legacy since 2010 and honestly most players can only upgrade to Real Madrid if anything, Barca is a nice destination to live in (Manchester is a shithole unless you’re a college student in comparison to other European cities). With Barca being in the state they are, they don’t have many places to “upgrade” either. I recon players like Grealish could be absolute stars and protagonists elsewhere, but there’s no denying they’re making history.