Man City defender makes treble admission ahead of Inter Milan Champions League final

Nathan Ake has revealed the Manchester City squad have begun talking about the possibility of winning a treble this season.

Pep Guardiola’s side took a huge step towards achieving that feat when they beat Manchester United 2-1 in Saturday’s FA Cup final. An Ilkay Gundogan double secured a 2-1 victory over the Red Devils at Wembley and means City have now won the Premier League and FA Cup double this season.

But could be extended to three next weekend when City face Inter Milan in the Champions League final, and the Blues are aiming to win just a second treble in the history of English football.

For weeks, Guardiola has played down treble talk and insisted the team are very much focusing on one game at a time. But speaking after the FA Cup final, Ake admitted the squad have started discussing the prospect of completing a historic season.

“It’s only normal that we can talk about it now,” said the Dutchman. “Only one game and we can do it. It won’t be easy, like today will be very tough, we have to dig in.

“If you’re so close you’re going to do everything to do it. It’s still one big final to go and we have to still focus on it,” added Ake. “It’s been the whole season, it sounds cliche - game by game - but the whole season we’ve lived up to that. Now you’re here, it’s only one game left to lift another cup.”

Only one side have previously won the treble in English football, and that was Alex Ferguson’s 1999 United team. But Ake explained, somewhat surprisingly, that he knows very little about that side from 24 years ago.

“Personally not much. I know they did it but I don’t know how or anything like that,” he said. “It’s something that isn’t done usually, we know we can do something remarkable. Today we focussed on the FA Cup, if there was no treble it’s still a big big prize. We wanted to win it.”

Asked what it would mean to the group if they could win the treble, Ake replied: “It’s already showing now, the togetherness we have as a group. Everyone is good with each other, works for each other, pushes each other when needed. If there are moments when we slack off or feel we have to push more we feel like we can say that to each other.”