Pep Guardiola sees parallels with Barcelona-Real Madrid 2009/10 title run-in with Manchester City and Liverpool

It was rare enough that one team’s results should be almost flawless. That two barely dropped a point was unprecedented. One long seemed guaranteed the bittersweet distinction of posting a record tally for the runners-up. Not just Manchester City and Liverpool this season, but Barcelona and Real Madrid in 2009/10. If Pep Guardiola has experience of the most exacting of title races, he can savour the parallels with the past. “Madrid made 96 points because the last game they played, they drew because they knew we were winning 3-0 and they need to win, even [to get] 98 points,” Guardiola recalled. His Barcelona team triumphed with 99, having avoided slipping up. “We spoke many times we could not lose because Madrid is not going to lose points. When you have 96, 98 points, it is a lot of points, but there can just be one winner. It is quite similar.” During his time at City, Manuel Pellegrini would lament that Real recorded 96 points and a century of goals. It was not enough, just as 97 may not suffice for Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool now. In each season, Guardiola’s side mustered an eloquent response to European disappointment. Since their Champions League exit to Tottenham Hotspur, City have beaten Spurs and Manchester United and Guardiola added: "It is quite similar because we went out in the semi-finals of the Champions League to Inter Milan and [Jose] Mourinho and after we had Villarreal away, a tough game, and we stand up and we won [4-1]." Barcelona finished with 12 wins from their final 13 games in 2009/10. Now City have 11 straight league victories. They may need 14 to see off Liverpool’s challenge. Guardiola has argued that both sides would be worthy champions. His team won the title by 19 points a year ago and he added: “The difference this season from last season is one reason: Liverpool. We did the same but the only difference is that Liverpool are much, much better. Liverpool have improved a lot. They have bought incredible players.” Whether or not City retain the league for the first time their history, Guardiola believes his side are leaving a legacy by raising the bar . "The next level is not a big reach because we've got there," he explained. "The next generation of players will know the standards expected of them. They will know what these players have done. But when you've done 100 points and [so far] 89, that is massive." He promised his players he would be forgiving if they drop points against Burnley on Sunday, Leicester City or Brighton & Hove Albion in their remaining fixtures. “I will not judge them,” he pledged. “I will not tell them because of many circumstances; because maybe Burnley is better than us in that game. Maybe we play horrible in one of these three games. It’s happened. You have to try to avoid it, but it can happen. "But maybe in that season a bad decision by the referees can happen, a red card in the first minutes and now we are out. So now the little details make the difference. “As a manager I can’t judge that way, I am sorry. So when you are seventh when this team is built to stay there and we finish I don’t know how many points away, I would say it was a really bad season.” So it is an excellent campaign. But Guardiola, a keen golfer who has played with Ryder Cup hero Tommy Fleetwood , reached for an analogy from his second sport. City are approaching the metaphorical 18th green. “I know at that level, you win on one putt in the Masters, or [you get] nothing.”

Pep Guardiola sees parallels with Barcelona-Real Madrid 2009/10 title run-in with Manchester City and Liverpool

Guardiola guided Barca to La Liga title with 99 points a decade ago. The Catalan manager knows if his Manchester City side can reach 98 points, they will retain their Premier League title irrespective of what Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool do