Pep Guardiola says winning the FA Cup won't be enough to fix Manchester City's poor season, even after reaching the final on the same day Liverpool claimed the Premier League title.
City, who had won the league four years in a row, lost their grip this season as Liverpool stormed to a record-equaling 20th title. Liverpool sealed the crown with a 5-1 win over Tottenham, just as City beat Nottingham Forest 2-0 in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley.
Rico Lewis scored early for City, and Josko Gvardiol added a second to send them to their third straight FA Cup final. They will face Crystal Palace on May 17.
Although City are still likely to finish in the Premier League's top five and qualify for the Champions League, Guardiola dismissed the idea that it makes the season a success.
“No, I have said many times — this season has not been good,” Guardiola said. “We are a thousand million points behind Liverpool. In the Champions League, we barely won one or two games. We cannot say the season was good just because we qualify for the Champions League.”
City are 21 points behind Liverpool in the standings and are just one point ahead of Chelsea and Forest in the battle for top-five places.
Despite reaching another FA Cup final, Guardiola stressed the team’s struggles in the league mattered more.
“The Premier League defines your season. We couldn’t be consistent. Now, the most important thing is to qualify for the Champions League and recover,” he said.
City thrashed Palace 5-2 earlier this month, but Guardiola warned against underestimating their opponents, who beat Aston Villa 3-0 to reach the final.
“We have four finals left, and then a very tough game against Palace. We saw how strong they were yesterday,” Guardiola added.
