Pep Guardiola called on Manchester City players to be hailed as legends after they came from two goals down in the final 15 minutes of the season to beat Aston Villa and claim a fourth Premier League title in five years.
City went into the day knowing that three points would guarantee them the trophy, but things went awry in the first half when Matty Cash headed in the opening goal past Ederson and got even worse in the second half when former Liverpool star Philippe Coutinho scored a second to stun the Etihad. However, the Blues - helped by three substitutes Oleksandr Zinchenko, Raheem Sterling and Ilkay Gundogan - pulled off an astonishing turnaround to win the game and break Liverpool hearts.
Guardiola a dmitted that his side had felt the pressure of the week and the occasion, with them knowing they were so close to winning the league after so long. The half-time message was simply to get one goal to get themselves back into the contest, and one quickly became two and then three.
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City's manager accepted that their cool heads went out the window in such an emotional game, but having come through the challenge argued that his players deserved to be heralded as some of the best seen in English football.
"Always I had the feeling that the day we saw since we arrived in the stadium that we needed a goal," he said. "After, when we talk about today's big data - numbers numbers - where was today the big data when you play these 90 minutes with this emotion.
"This game is the most difficult to win. This game is the most difficult to close, 10 months is so difficult. It's like the service to win Wimbledon is the most difficult one. We got the first, were fortunate and lucky to win the second one so quick and after when we saw the time still to play we had momentum and we got it.
All the team did it, as always. Otherwise you cannot achieve what we have done in the last five or six seasons. Four Premier Leagues - these guys are legends already, people have to admit it. This group of players are absolutely eternal in this club because what we achieved is so difficult to do.
"Just Sir Alex Ferguson with United has done it years ago two or three times - now again I realise the magnitude of Sir Alex Ferguson and his United doing this - and we are part of that. In one year, we will defend our crown."
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