De Bruyne warns Chelsea and Liverpool: Man City want to win the quadruple

Pep Guardiola has been reluctant to speculate on the possibility of landing four trophies, but his Belgian midfielder claims that is the target

Kevin De Bruyne has warned Manchester City’s Carabao Cup final opponents Chelsea and Premier League title rivals Liverpool that the Blues are targeting the quadruple this season.

Pep Guardiola has been reluctant to discuss the possibility of landing four trophies in 2019.

His side are, however, due at Wembley on Sunday for one showpiece occasion and remain in the hunt to successfully defend their top-flight crown.

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They are also into the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and hold a 3-2 advantage over Schalke in a Champions League last-16 showdown with German opponents.

De Bruyne admits the ultimate target is to emerge victorious in all of those competitions, with a first piece of silverware on the line against Chelsea.

The Belgium international midfielder told The Mirror: “We want to win everything. We want all four titles.

“It is nearly impossible to do that, but that is our aim.

“We want to set new standards. We want to win every game and see where we end up. But the closer you get to finals and the end game, then you want to win the titles.”

City have overcome the odd wobble this season to keep themselves in contention on multiple fronts, with De Bruyne claiming that times of trouble have served to make an ambitious squad stronger.

He added: “In the bad moments, we have shown that this team is mentally and physically strong enough to come back from anything.

“Now we are in the most important part of the ­season, we are happy to be competing on all four fronts because it takes a good team to get to where we are.

“We are trying to be ­relentless. In games where we are winning 2-0 or 3-0, we want to still score one, two or three more goals. We want to score as many goals as possible.

“It makes it more fun for everyone because we all look at our statistics and if you have chipped in then it gives you a good feeling.

“For 99 per cent of the time we are favourites to win every game we play.

“But that’s why we don’t talk about what we want to win – because at the end of the day we want to win everything.”

De Bruyne has been restricted to just 13 starts this season, in what has been an injury-hit campaign, and the 27-year-old wants more medals to counter the frustration of spells on the sidelines.

He said: “I didn’t like it. I don’t like to sit ­outside. I can’t stand it.

“When you’re on the field you’re in control. You ­always feel like you can do something.

“Sitting on the sidelines makes you feel like a fan. You’re not used to it. You want to be part of the team.

“But I was injured. There was nothing I could do. I had to just do whatever I needed to do to get myself as fit as possible.

“I worked hard and I am happy to be back playing football again.”