Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has revealed that Liverpool deserved to be Premier League champions while backing his team to fight for the title next season.
The Reds sealed the Premier League title with a 5-1 win over Tottenham on Sunday to win their first title since 2020, which ended Man City’s run of four consecutive victories.
Guardiola’s team won the title in 2021, 2022, 2023 and 2024.
However, Guardiola’s team has struggled to maintain a credible defence of the title they won last season.
The former Barcelona coach reserved special praise for Liverpool for ending their five-year drought while backing his players to vie for the title next season.
Guardiola said, “Before we start, on behalf of myself and the club, we want to congratulate Liverpool for their Premier League victory.
“Well deserved, no doubt about that – a fantastic team. Give me one year, like it happened the last four years, and hopefully next season we can do better and compete until the end of the season. Liverpool, congratulations.”
Arne Slot took over from Jürgen Klopp in the summer, and he is now the first Dutch manager to win the Premier League title.
Man City have a chance to win a trophy this season after they defeated Nottingham Forest 2-0 to advance to the 2025 FA Cup final.
Guardiola hailed the players for leading the club to a third consecutive final in a row in the competition.
He said, “Seven semi-finals in a row and three finals speak so highly about this generation of players and this club in itself.
“We are really pleased that we are there. This season has not been good because what defines it is the Premier League. Since I have been here, we have been there, but we try to avoid the damage and qualify for the Champions League.
“We have five days to play a team like Wolves, who are playing really well. We have four finals in the league, and then, unbelievably, we are pleased to play Crystal Palace here.
“Scoring an early goal helped us, then we continued to play with tempo, but we were not clever in the final third and had three or four chances to shoot when we did not.
“They had chances, of course, and we were lucky with the post; we cannot deny that, but in general, we played really well.
Manchester City will take on Crystal Palace on May 17 at Wembley Stadium.
