‘I couldn’t believe it’ – Arsenal ace shares why Pep called him on night Man City won treble in 2023 | OneFootball

Arsenal defender Oleksandr Zinchenko has revealed that Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola called him on the phone the night the reigning Premier League champions completed the treble in June 2023.

The Ukraine international left Man City in the summer of 2022 for Arsenal after six years, making 128 appearances across all competitions and winning four Premier League titles, four Carabao Cups and one FA Cup with them.

The Sky Blues won their first-ever Champions League a year after he left having lost the final of the 2020-21 campaign to Chelsea, and Guardiola did not hesitate to show his gratitude to Zinchenko

“I can only imagine how much they celebrated after the game,” the Gunners star told the Guardian.

“And I guess no one was sleeping that night, but to get a call from Pep? I couldn’t believe it. He said: ‘Alex, you are a big part of this.’ I was fully surprised in a good way.

“I said to him, again, a massive thanks for everything he did for me. It shows how good-humoured he could be.”

Arsenal have won just the 2023 FA Community Shield since the 27-year-old joined them, missing out on the Premier League titles to Man City in 2022-23 and 2023-24, and they are looking to go one better this season.

Zinchenko has played 70 games across all competitions since joining the North London club, and he will be desperate to help them land major silverware going forward.

Arsenal are challenging strongly across all competitions this term and have been tipped to go all the way in the Premier League and Champions League.

However, whether they have enough squad depth to win the major competitions this season remains to be seen, with their struggles in attack evident at the weekend when both Bukayo Saka and Martin Odegaard were missing in action.