Manchester City created history on Saturday night after winning an elite treble with a win over Inter Milan to lift the Champions League 2022-23 trophy in Istanbul. Here's a look at other football clubs that have achieved the historic treble.
Manchester City won the UEFA Champions League to wrap up a historic treble with a 1-0 win over Inter Milan in Istanbul on Saturday. As Simon Inzaghi's Inter put on a great defensive performance, full of bite and fury, it wasn't vintage from City, but Rodri's devastating strike late in the second half gave Pep Guardiola's men the historic treble. It is only the tenth occasion a European side has won a Treble.
Manager Pep Guardiola has now won 14 major trophies since joining the club in 2016 – a collection comprising five Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, one Champions League and two Community Shields – and he becomes the first manager to win two European Trebles (Barcelona 2009 and City 2023).
Earlier this month, Manchester City closed in on the treble by beating arch-rivals Manchester United 2-1 in the FA Cup final on June 3. Ilkay Gundogan scored a brace in the clash at the Wembley stadium for Pep Guardiola's team, while Bruno Fernandes' penalty provided the only moment of joy for the Red Devils.
On May 21, Manchester City won the Premier League title for a fifth time in six seasons after Arsenal's defeat at Nottingham Forest left Pep Guardiola's men with an insurmountable four-point lead at the top of the table over the Gunners.
Having clinched a historic treble in the 2022-23 season, Manchester City have joined an elite club of football teams who have won a treble, including domestic league and cup titles, plus European Cup or UEFA Champions League.
Here's a look at the nine times European football clubs won the treble in the past:
In August 2020, Bayern Munich wrapped up a historic treble by adding the UEFA Champions League trophy to their Bundesliga and DFB Cup crowns after Kingsley Coman gave the Germans a 1-0 victory over PSG in Lisbon.
On June 6, 2015, FC Barcelona sealed a second treble and a fifth UEFA Champions League title. Ivan Rakiti scored the first goal before Juventus' lvaro Morata pulled one back. However, Luis Suárez gave Barcelona the advantage once more, and Neymar's game-winning kick made it 3-1.Legendary club midfielder Xavi Hernandez confirmed his departure from the Catalan giant after 20 years, and it was a fitting farewell.
On June 1 2013, Bayern Munich defeated VfB Stuttgart 3-2 to win the German Cup final in Berlin, one week after Heynckes’ side won the Champions League and some eight weeks after securing the Bundesliga title. This was the first treble that the German giants clinched.
Italian football's first ever continental treble saw Inter Milan win the Serie A, Coppa Italia, and the UEFA Champions League in the 2009-2010 season. It was their first European triumph in 45 years and arguably the greatest season by an Italian side. Jose Mourinho had led Inter to an unprecedented treble thanks to a 2-0 victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League final at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid.
In 2009, Barcelona joined the elite club of treble winners, producing some of the most electrifying football that hadn't been seen since the legendary Dutch sides of the 1970s. The final piece of that treble puzzle came in the Champions League final.
On May 26, 1999, Sir Alex Ferguson's Manchester United became the first English club to ever win the elite treble after beating Bayern Munich to clinch the Champions League 1998-99, having won the Premier League and FA Cup already earlier in the season.
Apart from these clubs, the other clubs to win the treble are: PSV Eindhoven in 1987-88 season, Ajax in the 1971-72 season and Celtic was the first team to achieve the historic feat in the 1966-67 season.
Celtic's Lisbon Lions – in 1966/67 – are the only team to date to have lifted a quadruple of European Cup, domestic league, domestic cup and domestic league cup in the same season. City could have matched that, but lost to Southampton in this season's English League Cup quarter-finals in January.
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