Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, laughed at the idea that if his side secures a Champions League spot, they will remember this season as a memorable one.
With their 2-1 Premier League victory over Aston Villa on Tuesday, City made significant progress towards European qualification thanks to a goal from Matheus Nunes in the 94th minute.
Guardiola’s team moved up two spots to third place in the league standings, but they are still eighteen points behind champions Liverpool.
As a result, they will fall far short of their preseason objective of winning the league for the fifth time in a row.
“This season has been bad,” Guardiola said. “It doesn’t matter whether we reach the (FA Cup) final, or qualification for the Champions League.
” The reality is that what determines, what makes you feel the season is good is the Premier League, not the Champions League, not FA Cups. It’s that consistency in the Premier League.
“But it happens, sometimes you have bad seasons. The level of the teams (in the Premier League) is outstanding.”
Pundit Roy Keane thought Guardiola’s summary of the season was unfairly negative.
“I think he’s been really harsh on his team there,” the former Manchester United midfielder said on the Sky Sports broadcast.
“Had a tough start, obviously had a huge setback with Rodri (suffering a torn anterior cruciate ligament), and they’ve not been at their very best.
“But that was always going to happen. But I still think if they win the FA Cup and get in the Champions League, it’s not bad going.
“But it’s just because they set the standards so high over the last few years that any sort of drop-off kind of does look bad.”
While Crystal Palace hosts Aston Villa in the other FA Cup semi-final on Saturday, City will travel to Nottingham Forest on Sunday.
At the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, City and Villa were headed for a draw after Bernardo Silva’s first-half goal was negated by Marcus Rashford’s penalty.
Kevin De Bruyne, the captain, had a strong night two weeks after declaring he would be leaving City at the end of the season.
He created six chances, while no other player created more than two.
The Belgian generated five or more opportunities in a single league game for the 60th time, according to Opta, which was the most any player had done since the 2003–04 season.
When De Bruyne was replaced for Manuel Akanji late in Tuesday’s match, he chose to sit on the advertising board and provide instructions to his colleagues rather than stroll around to City’s bench, despite having stated on Sunday that he was astonished not to get a new contract offer from the Club.