Manchester City’s title-winning squad took their pitchside celebrations into the dressing room after lifting the Premier League trophy for the third consecutive year on Sunday.
Pep Guardiola secured the title for his side with three games in hand and ample preparation time for his squad to reset ahead of their post-season campaigns in the FA Cup and Champions League.
But before the team refocuses on their pursuit of a historic Treble, there was time for the players to get swept up in their achievement, and kick off what could be a summer of celebrations.
Long after the final whistle, the squad congregated into the Etihad changing rooms, where Jack Grealish and Julian Alvarez led their delirious team-mates in a rendition of ‘We Are the Champions’ – Queen’s original booming from the speakers.
In pictures from Sky Sports, the players were seen to have swapped their jerseys for special editions of their first kit emblazoned not with their names but ‘Champions – 23’ to commemorate the season’s achievements.
Manchester City lifted a landmark third consecutive Premier League trophy in a row on Sunday
The players gambolled on the pitch after hoisting the trophy aloft, before celebrating in their dressing room in the bowels of the Etihad
Jack Grealish and Julian Alvarez (centre left and left) led a chorus of ‘We Are the Champions’
They were joined in their festivities by kitman Brandon Ashton, who memorably celebrated City winning their domestic treble in 2019 by stripping down to his underwear and launching himself into a laundry basket.
Rodri cracked open a beer which he raised aloft as he was dragged into the happy gang in the centre of the dressing room.
Although now 18, academy starlet Rico Lewis swigged a sports drink as he watched the party unfold around him.
Bernardo Silva and Ruben Dias munched on pizza, but that didn’t save the Portugual international from being drawn into the swaying crowd by Erling Haaland and Phil Foden.
Rodri enjoyed a celebratory beer after the final whistle as the players began to unwind
By contrast, Phil Foden waved a bottle of post-performance drink over his head in triumph
The players were clearly delighted by their achievements, hugging and swaying in time to the music, but their celebrations received sharp artistic criticism from pundit Micah Richards.
The former Man City player reflected that the singing was ‘awful’ as the cameras left the players to their revelry.
‘Like strangled cats!’ Richards teased.
After the final whistle on their 1-0 victory over Chelsea, Kyle Walker had hinted at the celebrations to come.
Kyle Walker said that although there would be some celebrations, focus would switch to June
Erling Haaland enjoyed a swig of Man City-branded bubbly on the pitch wearing his medal
The turf at the Etihad was strewn with bottles after the final whistle – although most might have been dropped by over-exuberant fans
‘We will have a few glasses of champagne,’ the defender admitted. ‘But then we move on to June’, adding that he was adamant that the team’s definition of success involved winning their first Champions League trophy and claiming the second-ever Treble in English football.
‘We have two massive finals,’ he continued. ‘To say we’re up there with the greatest Premier League teams of all time we have to go and conquer some of that. We’ve been called the Fourmidables and the Centurions but to go and get this we can really stamp our mark on being one of the greatest teams of all time in the Premier League.’
Walker and his team-mates were unable to celebrate on the pitch immediately after referee Michael Oliver called time on their tie with their west London opponents after fans rushed down from the stands and invaded the pitch.
Players from both sides were quickly escorted off and down the tunnel by security in the moments after the final whistle as supporters flooded the ground.
