The Quadruple is on for Pep Guardiola - but he will be judged on winning the Champions League

When Guardiola reviewed last season, for all City’s success in winning the Premier League and League Cup, there must have been regrets.

The FA Cup was a missed opportunity, City inexplicably losing at Wigan. A domestic treble - an amazing feat - has never been won before so to blow the chance in those circumstances was a low point of the season.

The Champions League defeat to Liverpool hurt more, especially given the domestic superiority – there was a 25 point gap in the Premier League between the clubs at that time. City could have gone further in both competitions with a little improvement. Guardiola knew it. Everything this season has been geared to giving his players the same opportunity.

That shows the pressure he has put on his squad to go beyond what they did last year, and to put his successful City predecessors in the shade. Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini did well in his job, but they were not game changers in English football. We do not think of them in the same way as Sir Matt Busby, Brian Clough, Bob Paisley or Sir Alex Ferguson.

When we think of a defining year in English football such as 1968, it is Busby holding aloft the European Cup at Wembley after victory over Benfica that immediately comes to mind, not Joe Mercer with the First Division title.

Guardiola was appointed by City with his position as a football visionary already secure due to his work in Barcelona and, to a lesser extent, Bayern Munich, but he must have recognised the only way he could be spoken about in the same glowing terms for his work in England was to go beyond what none thought possible in this country.

That remains his challenge.

No matter what success he has earned throughout the course of his career – his coaching genius undisputed - there will always be grumbles about the funds he has been given access to giving him a massive advantage. I do not subscribe to the argument money is guarantee of the kind of football and trophy collecting Guardiola has overseen. Nevertheless, those arguments will persist, especially with the investigation ongoing as to whether City have adhered to UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules. 

It means Guardiola has to achieve the extraordinary to set him apart – a standard that even the vast investment cannot undermine.

Last year it was all about the style of play differentiating him from previous title winners. Impressive as that was, City had already won the Premier League twice since the Abu Dhabi takeover. 

The club’s owners pursued him to take City to another level from Mancini and Pellegrini – to achieve the status of Champions League winners.

This is what separates domestic greatness from global recognition – being established as one of the best teams of all time. Guardiola’s success in that competition will define his City reign.

The best Arsenal team under Arsene Wenger could not do it. Jose Mourinho was unable to do so at Chelsea, the core of his squad finally conquering Europe after his departure.

Failure in the Champions League blotted their successful periods at Highbury and Stamford Bridge, Mourinho’s European legend secured at Porto and Inter Milan. Guardiola is yet to replicate his Barcelona success, leaving Bayern Munich with many in Germany underwhelmed by his Champions League campaigns. 

That was despite winning the double twice in Germany. His previous works means he will always be one of those elite coaches judged to a higher standard than others.

The past week felt like it had potential to be a defining period for Guardiola’s ambition of all four trophies in a campaign, especially as it was only 11 days ago he must have thought Liverpool would go seven points ahead.

No-one at City would have believed Liverpool would be in the position they are at this stage of the season. The pressure on Jurgen Klopp’s side was ramped up after City dropped points to Chelsea, Leicester City and Crystal Palace over Christmas, Guardiola continually talking about preferring to be in Liverpool’s position.

Overcoming Arsenal and Everton to go back to the top, albeit on goal difference having played a game more, felt significant. Beating Chelsea this weekend would be even more so, ensuring Liverpool have to defeat Bournemouth and secure a positive result against Manchester United in two weeks time to keep the title destiny in their own hands.

The FA Cup draw has been kind, too, City certain to overcome Newport County unless they suffer what would probably be the biggest shock of all time.

For every other club in English history, the quadruple has never been on the agenda. Not even Ferguson or Paisley’s best teams were able to manoeuvre themselves into a position where it was worthy of speculation, let alone realistic.

Guardiola has already led his club into unchartered territory by making it possible. English football’s first domestic treble is more feasible than it has ever been.

If he achieves that, his place in this country's history will certainly be secure - but the rest of the world will be still be asking, "Where is the European Cup?"

No matter how many league titles he wins, the Champions League will ultimately determine whether we come to view Guardiola’s City triumph as an English or European success story.