Manchester City on the Brink of History
At the start of April, it looked as though the title may well slip away from Manchester City. Arsenal’s young Gunners were a whopping eight points clear, and it seemed like a first crown in almost two decades would head to the Emirates Stadium. However, a disastrous run of form since has seen the title head north, and with two cup finals on the horizon, the Etihad Club now finds itself on the brink of history.
Just a matter of weeks ago, Bovada, where you can visit the sportsbook to follow odds on football, basketball, tennis, and a plethora of other sports, had priced Pep’s Blues at 11/10 (+110) to complete the treble this season. With one title in the bag, those odds will now have drastically reduced in size, and should they pick up victories against Manchester United in the FA Cup final and Inter Milan in the UEFA Champions League final, this City team will go down in history as one of the greatest of all time.
There is only one team in the history of English football that has ever completed the treble in years gone by, so it is there where we will start. Here are the most recent trebles from each of Europe’s top four leagues.
Italy: Inter Milan – 2009/10
This year’s UEFA Champions League finalists Inter Milan were the last, and only team, to complete the treble in Italy. Under Jose Mourinho, the Nerazzurri managed to secure the Scudetto, as well as the Coppa Italia and the UEFA Champions League. And it was the latter of those successes which was perhaps the most impressive.
The Italian outfit met reigning champions and overwhelming favorites for glory Barcelona in the semifinals. They managed to secure a 3-1 victory in the first leg in the San Siro thanks to goals from Wesley Sneijder, Maicon, and Diego Milito before defensive heroics in the return leg secured a 3-2 aggregate victory. They would then meet and defeat Bayern Munich in the Santiago Bernabeu showpiece courtesy of a brace from Argentinian hitman Milito.
Germany: Bayern Munich – 2019/20
As is the case in Spain, Bayern Munich are the only team to complete the treble in Germany, and they have done so on two separate occasions. Their first came under Jupp Heynckes in 2013 which ended Borussia Dortmund’s two-year stranglehold in German football. Their second would come seven years later.
In Hansi Flick’s maiden season in charge, the Bavarians managed to charge away from Die Schwartzgelben in the latter stages of the Bundesliga season to lift the Meisterschale. They then defeated Bayern Leverkusen in Berlin to lift the DFB-Pokal. A stunning 8-2 victory over Barcelona in the Champions League semifinals set up a final against French champions Paris Saint-Germain, where Kingsley Coman would score the only goal of the game to take the famous ‘Big Eared’ trophy back to the Allianz Arena.