The race for the Quadruple: Arsenal and Manchester City’s battle

For the first time, two English clubs have reached March still in the hunt for the Quadruple – winning the Premier League, the FA Cup, the EFL Cup, and the Champions League.

They are the three most prized domestic trophies and Europe’s elite title.

Arsenal and Manchester City are the clubs capable of winning all four given they are jousting for the Premier League title, still in the FA Cup and Champions League, and meet in the EFL Cup final later this month.

The Gunners face League One side Mansfield in the FA Cup fifth round on Saturday, while City are away to Newcastle United.

Last week’s draw for the Champions League knockout stages means the Premier League’s top two can only meet in May’s final.

Winning all four has been done before.

Scottish giants Celtic swept all before them in 1966-67, culminating in a European Cup win over Inter Milan, and with a squad born within 30 miles of Celtic Park.

But how close have other clubs come to completing the Quadruple?

You might naturally be inclined to think the Treble winners of Manchester United in 1998-99 or Manchester City in 2022-23 have come closest to completing the Quadruple, and, in terms of trophies won, of course you’d be correct.

But both sides were knocked out of the League Cup at the quarter-final stage (United in December, City in January), meaning neither were fighting on all four fronts at the tail end of the season.

They remain the only English clubs to have done the Treble, although Liverpool did a version of sorts in 1983-84, winning Division One, the European Cup and the League Cup, while City delivered a domestic clean sweep in 2018-19.

Date-wise, Liverpool’s 2021-22 season is the closest an English club has come to the ultimate four-trophy haul.

The Reds had already secured the two domestic cups when they missed out on the league title by a solitary point on a dramatic final day on 22 May. Jurgen Klopp’s side went on to lose a tense Champions League final to Real Madrid six days later.

Chelsea were also in the running for four trophies that year.

But they were beaten on penalties in the League Cup final by Liverpool on 27 February. The Reds also beat the Blues in the FA Cup final on penalties.

Chelsea, who had led the Premier League in December, ended a distant third and were knocked out of the Champions League in the quarter-finals, proving that you can be in the running but end up missing out (although they had the consolation of winning the Uefa Super Cup and Club World Cup that season).

Chelsea also went tantalisingly close in 2006-07, only to miss out on the two main prizes. Jose Mourinho’s title-holders lost a Champions League semi-final tie against Liverpool on penalties on 1 May.

The league became a mathematical impossibility the following week, with the trophy ending up at Manchester United.

Likewise, United went close to the Quadruple in 2008-09 but took home ‘just’ two trophies. Everton’s penalty shoot-out victory ended their FA Cup run at the semi-final stage on 19 April before the Red Devils were outclassed by Barcelona in the Champions League final six weeks later.

Across the continent, the concept of a league cup is a rare one, meaning almost all of Europe’s dominant forces have never won the Quadruple as British and Irish fans would recognise it.

France scrapped the Coupe de la Ligue in 2020, Spain’s short-lived Copa de la Liga lasted only four seasons in the 1980s, Germany’s Ligapokal was abolished in 2007, while Italy has never even organised an equivalent.

Most European nations play a Community Shield-style ‘supercup’ as their season’s curtain raiser, although it feels generous to include one-off games like these – or the Uefa Super Cup – when speaking of a true quadruple.

If we were to acknowledge these, then Bayern Munich in 2012-13 and Paris Saint-Germain last season can lay claim to impressive four-trophy hauls.

A story that often goes under the radar is how their Glasgow rivals Rangers were just one win from the final of the inaugural, rebranded and restructured Champions League in 1992-93 – instead, they had to settle for a Scottish treble.

Ultimately, it was PSG who came closest to emulating the Lisbon Lions during the Covid-ravaged 2019-20 season.

Current England boss Thomas Tuchel led the French side to three trophies on the domestic front – including the last-ever Coupe de la Ligue – but lost the Champions League final to Bayern on 23 August (rearranged from 30 May because of the pandemic).

Provided Arsenal and City both progress in the FA Cup on Saturday, that EFL Cup final at Wembley on 22 March will take on added significance as the campaign approaches what Sir Alex Ferguson famously called “squeaky bum time”.

The two then meet at Etihad Stadium in the league on 19 April in a match that could go a long way to deciding the title.