Pep Guardiola warned that his Manchester City will come back stronger after retaining their Premier League title this season.
Of Guardiola’s eight league titles as a coach, the Spanish serial winner says Manchester City’s 2018/ 19 success was the toughest test of his illustrious career - in which he has won 26 major trophies.
In most seasons, Liverpool’s tally of 97 points would have seen them crowned champions.
And Guardiola expects the Reds to push them all the way again in the future.
He says: “We accept the challenge and next season we will be back stronger, I promise you.
“Last year we only added Riyad [Mahrez], and he scored an incredible goal [on Sunday]. So we’ll decide what the team needs now. There are weaknesses.
“Liverpool will maintain it, and the others will be better: United must come back; Chelsea under Sarri will be better; Tottenham are in the Champions League final and Arsenal will be better as well.”
He adds: “We have to say congratulations to Liverpool and thank you so much - they pushed us to increase our standards. It’s incredible, 98 points, to go back-to-back.
"We made the standard higher last season and Liverpool helped us - to win this title we had to win 14 [league games] in a row. We couldn’t lose one point.
“It’s the toughest title we have won in all my career, by far.”
City can wrap up a domestic treble with victory in Saturday’s FA Cup final against Watford, to go with the Prem title and the League Cup.