Jack Grealish firmly believes Manchester City can win a Premier League and Champions League double and insists their FA Cup loss to Liverpool will not affect their ambitions.
On Saturday, Pep Guardiola’s men suffered a thrilling 3-2 semi-final defeat to Jurgen Klopp’s team, with Sadio Mane’s double adding to Ibrahima Konate’s opener to give the Reds a comfortable half-time lead.
Goals from Grealish and Bernardo Silva threatened an incredible turnaround. Still, City could not find a leveller and fell to their first Wembley defeat to Liverpool, having beaten them on penalties in both the 2016 League Cup final and the 2019 Community Shield.
The city has lost in four of its last five FA Cup semi-final appearances, but Grealish said the loss would not affect their attempts to beat Liverpool to the Premier League and Champions League trophies.
He told the club’s official media channels:
“Yes, 100 per cent [City can win both competitions].
“You go in there and look at the talent and experience we have in that dressing room.
“I don’t think anyone else in the league has one like it.
“Our performances and where we are in the league speak for themselves. We have to pick ourselves up and go again.
“And hopefully, by the end of the season, we’ll have [won] the Premier League and the Champions League.
“That’s what you’ll get at Manchester City because you’re always in [multiple] competitions come to the end of the season. So it’s always game after game.”
City’s slow start to the encounter resulted in them conceding three first-half goals for the first time since April 2018, when they trailed the same opponents 3-0 at the break in the Champions League.
The former Aston Villa man conceded their poor display in the opening period ultimately cost them a place in the final, suggesting City would have levelled an absorbing tie had it gone on for just five more minutes.
He added:
“We started slow. For the whole of the first half, Liverpool was on top.
“For us, it wasn’t an ideal first half, and it cost us.
“I’m not going sit here and say excuses. I think we came out slow. That was it.
“Liverpool has been the same as us. They’ve travelled the same amount as us in the last few weeks and played the same.
“We didn’t have the first half that we wanted to, but we came in at half-time, and the manager made a few changes.
“In the second half, I think we were much better for it, but I believe it was too little, too late.
“With another five minutes, I think we’d have gotten another goal, and if we took it to extra time, there would only have been one winner, but it wasn’t meant to be.”
The city will turn their attention back to the Premier League when they host Brighton and Hove Albion on Wednesday. However, they could begin that game in second place with Liverpool, one point behind the leaders, facing Manchester United one day earlier.
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