Kevin De Bruyne suggests it is ‘nearly impossible’ for Manchester City to win all four major competitions this season.
Pep Guardiola’s men are still fighting on all fronts ahead of a season-defining week, which sees them travel to Schalke in the Champions League on Wednesday and then face Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final on Sunday.
City continue to be drawn favourable opposition in the cups, with an FA Cup quarter-final trip to Swansea on the horizon, while they currently sit top of the Premier League on goal difference.
Nonetheless, De Bruyne insists the club refuse to set such outrageous targets for themselves.
He said: “I think the goal is not to win the four competitions. The goal is to win every game and then the further you progress.
“We are happy with where we are but we want to progress in every round we play in. That’s now the Champions League.
“We want to do well and go to the quarter-finals, so we are one step closer to winning it. To set standards to win all four – that’s nearly impossible.”
And the Belgian also suggests other teams are beginning to work out how to stop Man City.
The champions have lost Premier League games to the likes of Crystal Palace, Leicester and Newcastle this season, but De Bruyne says the manager will never change his philosophy.
The Belgium playmaker said: “In the league we lost a few more games than we did last year but we are still fighting on all fronts.
“I think other teams figure out what we do, maybe, a little bit better. They maybe also have better squads. We just added one player, the rest is the same team.
“The way we play is always going to be the same with Pep, we’re not going to change. Everybody knows that.
“But in the end I don’t think there is a lot of difference. We’ve a lot of points in the league and I think the standard we are setting is still very high.
“Maybe it’s not the same as last year but maybe we’ll win more titles this year. The most important thing is titles. If we win three titles we will have done better than last year.”
20 Feb: Schalke v Man City at 8pm – LIVE
24 Feb: Man City v Chelsea in the Carabao Cup final at 4.30pm – LIVE