The six-part series takes you behind the scenes during our incredible 2022/23Treble-winning season.
Each episode takes us through the highs and lows of the campaign, on our way to a third successive Premier League title, FA Cup win and finally our Champions League triumph in Istanbul.
As part of the production process, City Studios spoke to many of the first team players who were at the heart of the triumph.
To coincide with each episode, we’ll let the key players tell you their memories of those events the show covers in their own words.
Episode four begins with City beginning entering the final weeks of a tight title race following our win at Arsenal, with every fixture virtually a must-win game as we go head-to-head with the Gunners.
Phil Foden: This is when the pressure comes and the games get massive. The last two seasons, we’ve come over every hurdle that we’ve faced and this year we want to do the same. From my previous experience we’ve been all right in these moments but it’s always a challenge and it’s very difficult to win every game.
Ruben Dias: Definitely, the aim is to look at the next game but when you get to this stage, it’s probably the most difficult thing to do. And that’s the one thing that can get you killed if you start looking too far ahead. It’s not easy. All of us in a way we look ahead – you have to, you have to visualise. But in the end you must focus so much on the present. If you think we’re going to have a big game and then you’re going to play another one and another one and semi-finals – you need to make sure you’re fully focused on what you’re doing today, now, tomorrow, day off, and the next day, training. I think that’s the most difficult thing to do in this moment of the season. It’s so easy to look ahead and it’s so easy to lose the focus into things that you think might happen.
But after dominating away to Nottingham Forest, a late equaliser means City drop two points and fall off the top of the Premier League.
Ilkay Gundogan: It’s not just the expectations from outside, it’s also the expectations we have for ourselves at those moments are so high, probably on the maximum, that naturally when you have a draw it feels like a loss. You lost two points. The game at Nottingham Forest we conceded quite late in the game and the game before we’d just won at Arsenal at the Emirates. That game definitely felt like a loss. That shows how thin the margin is in the Premier League right now. It was a strong team in Arsenal which is not losing a lot of points so it feels from now on you have to win every game to win the title.
That was followed by a difficult trip to Bournemouth where Dias gave an inspirational team talk to ensure there were no slip-ups on the south coast.
Ruben Dias: Boys, for a long time I just see noise. I see noise everywhere. I see noise from United, I see noise from Arsenal. And honestly, I think we’re forgetting the most important thing. We’re forgetting about focusing just on ourselves. Just on what we can do. Just on what we can do on the pitch. Focus on ourselves. I don’t care about Arsenal. I don’t care about United. And I don’t care about [Real] Madrid or whoever might come in the Champions League. If we focus on ourselves, we can do it. We can beat them all. Show ourselves, out there how much we want to win it again. Because we’ve done it. And the best thing we have, is that now we’ve done it, and they think: ‘oh they’re tired!’. And we want to do it again. And that’s when we get big. That’s when we get huge. That’s when we make our legacy individually and as a team. We do it again and again and again. Let’s go!
A 4-1 victory is followed by a tough FA Cup fifth round tie at Bristol City. But the Blues leave with a 3-0 victory and, for some of the first team, a taste for Bovril.
Jack Grealish: Them Bovrils at Bristol City! Now we’re talking. They were unbelievable. I took about eight home with me, I was giving them out to people. I don’t think Manu [Akanji] liked it, I think he was just trying it to get me away from him. I was offering them to everyone saying: ‘Do you like it or what?’
Phil Foden: I think the lads loved them? I think Jack had about three of them. I definitely took a few as well.
Scott Carson: I don’t remember having it as a kid, it probably wasn’t too long ago that I first had it. It pops up now and again at a few away grounds. Even the Spanish lads here, they’re all having it here, they love it. I don’t know what it is with everyone, but as soon it pops up, there might be half a dozen cups and before you know it, they’re all gone. It can be 15-18 degrees, and everyone’s drinking Bovril.
After back-to-back wins over Newcastle and Crystal Palace in the Premier League, we were back in the Champions League. After drawing 1-1 in Germany, Erling Haaland hit five goals in a 7-0 second leg victory over RB Leipzig at the Etihad.
Ilkay Gundogan: First of all in the Champions League, and once you get out of the group stage, it’s never easy, it’s never simple. Even though in the past we made it look simple with the results that we got, but if you look at the actual games, it’s always tough. The start of the game is always tough, but when you get the first goal things get maybe smoother but it’s never easy. Especially playing German teams, they always have intensity in the way they play. They are always aggressive, they run a lot and technically they are always good. That RB Leipzig team has a special way of playing and approaching the game and I knew it was going to be an uncomfortable game – especially playing the first game away in their stadium. I was expecting a tough game but of course I was hoping for a better result and everyone else did. And probably because we had a better first half, it felt like we wasted a little bit of a win here. That’s something we spoke about before the game and every draw feels like a loss. Sometimes especially in the Champions League you have to take a draw because it’s a good result to take back home because at home we know we are really good and we always are a really tough side to play. We play with a lot of intensity, create a lot of opportunities, score a lot of goals and that is exactly what we did in the second leg.
Erling Haaland: It was a really special night. It was an important night as well in the Champions League, getting through to the next stage. And, of course, scoring five goals in one game is special. I didn’t expect it but I was thinking of it because I had an old coach in Dortmund and the current coach in Dortmund now. I remember scoring four goals against Hertha Berlin and I got subbed off and I was like ‘Ah! I would love to score five goals.’ Five, I don’t know, five is so nice to score. Of course six, seven, eight, nine, 10 is nice but five is just so nice. I told them I would love to score five goals in one game and now I did it two years after. It was a really special moment for me, in such a nice game and especially in the Champions League.
Ilkay Gundogan: Without wanting to disrespect our opponents, it was kind of funny. Every ball that dropped in the box [to Haaland] and I think I spoke to him after his fourth goal and asked him if he had a magnet on his feet because every second goal hit the post or a player or they tried to clear it but it ended up on his feet and he just slotted it in. It’s a quality but it was also funny and there were a few smiles in these kind of situations on that day. We know we have someone who is a goalscoring machine and hopefully he will help us by scoring more goals before the end of the season and winning us the most important games.
Next up was Burnley in the FA Cup now managed by City legend Vincent Kompany. But it would be a painful return for our former skipper as Haaland scored yet another hat-trick in a 6-0 win.
Ilkay Gundogan: One of the biggest legends for City I think. It was funny to see him on the sideline coaching a team. I’ve tried to watch a few games of his teams, even when he was in Belgium. But then also being in Burnley and doing so well I always try to watch out for their games on TV. Maybe it was nice to be on the bench and get the chance to watch him for 90 minutes to see how he was behaving as a manager and how different he was to being a player before. And because I played with him for four or five years, it was quite weird to observe that. I think he has a very bright future because even as an active player, he was preparing himself, taking notes, on his laptop on the team coach. He was preparing himself to be a top coach and that’s what’s happening now and I’m very pleased for him.
Liverpool weren’t having the best of seasons but have been closest rivals in recent seasons so beating them 4-1 was another huge result with Haaland missing out through injury although he predicted that Kevin De Bruyne would score.
Erling Haaland: I hate to not play, I was so nervous in that game. I’m so happy we won, I was so nervous that first half but second half I was more confident. But the first 30 minutes was horrible but I’m so happy we won and performed well and it was a big step for us. I had a good feeling on Kevin that day. Exactly what he did, he scored and that was well said by me and well done by him. When I don’t play I support so it was nice to go to the game. I was nervous but I enjoyed it in the end.
Jack Grealish: My goal against Liverpool meant a lot actually. I don’t know why. I felt like I’d played so well in it and I just felt like all I needed was a goal to top it off. I got an assist and done certain stuff but I just felt I needed that goal to top the performance off.
City drew German champions Bayern Munich in the Champions League, beating them 4-1 on aggregate while we progressed in the FA Cup with Riyad Mahrez scoring a hat-trick at Wembley in a 3-0 win over Sheffield United.
Bernardo Silva: [The first leg] was a beautiful night, a beautiful game for us. Even though we won 3-0, the gap wasn’t that big. If you look at the quality of the performance of the teams, the first half was very tight, they could have scored from one or two chances but our defenders and goalkeeper were top in that game. That gave us a big advantage in both legs but especially in the first game. It’s one of those where the little details decide the game. It was a tough game. For me personally, it was nice because I scored and getting that advantage against such a good team was good. We knew difficult it would be to go to Bayern. Even with a 3-0 advantage, it was still tough.
Ruben Dias: First of all it was a big statement for us, inside the group, what we did against Bayern. The way we did it was very important. We didn’t really celebrate it much after the game because we were tired but also we know that all though it was very good, we’ve not won anything and that’s where our heads are. But it was definitely a special moment because all of us know we’re playing against a very good team. Winning 3-0 but you have to go there and you have to beat them. To know we were able to hold them off, and would have won but for that strange penalty, it was a strong statement from us. It was probably not one of our best performances with the ball but in these moments you have to go through so for that reason it was very important for us.
Stefan Ortega Moreno was in goal for the FA Cup semi-final win and along with Ederson and Scott Carson were a close goalkeeping unit with the German picking up an unusual nickname.
Ederson: I think success is also part of the collective work. Me Scott and Stef get along very well. When it’s the moment to joke, we joke and at training, we train seriously. I think above all it’s the respect and affection that we have for each other.
Stefan Ortega: It’s difficult to explain for people who don’t know what the feelings are like in this group. When I play, Eddie and Scott support me and when Eddie is playing we support him. We don’t pretend that we are friends, it’s the reality. I enjoy every day in this group. You can see it, we make a lot of jokes with each other. I think we have a really good connection to each other.
Scott Carson: I’m always smiling, always laughing. I know when it’s the right time to have a laugh and when it’s got to be serious. I typed Stefan Ortega Moreno into English translation and Steven Nettle Tanned came up and ever since then it’s just stuck. Even all the lads are Nettle Tanned, that’s what he gets called.
Ortega: He thinks it’s so funny!
The rest of the Oral Histories are available to read here.
You can watch all six episodes of Together: Treble Winners on Netflix now.
