Pep Guardiola believes champions Manchester City still have room for improvement as he accepted the challenge of trying to win back-to-back Premier League titles.
Guardiola said winning the league with City was a much tougher assignment than winning domestic titles with Barcelona or Bayern Munich due to the competitiveness of the Premier League.
Even on City’s trophy presentation day, Huddersfield managed to grind out a 0-0 draw to help their relegation fight.
Guardiola says that proves how tough it will be to retain the trophy but was ready for the challenge of improving his side again next season.
City are well fancied to retain their Premier League title as they're 4/6 favourites to win the 2018/19 Premier League.
"Today was the proof we can do better,” Guardiola Sky Sports. “Today it was warm, it was so tough, the 11 Huddersfield players were playing to stay in the Premier League. We lost a bit of focus but it's normal.
"We saw what happened in the last period: the team who won the league last season (might not) qualify for the Champions League, for example.
"Going back-to-back will be tough but we accept the challenge."
Reflecting on their title triumph, he added: "This is the Premier League. England is so special, it's so tough.
"You never know you're going to win, nobody knows. You win, you lose but always you have to try to do what you believe.
“When we started the season we believe OK and we wanted to try but I didn't know whether we would be able to win."
Kompany buzzing with title win
Captain Vincent Kompany lifted his third title in seven seasons, and praised the impact of Guardiola in what could end up being a record-breaking campaign.
"This team deserve it more than ever,” said Kompany. “I'm absolutely buzzing for them.
"The impact of the gaffer was massive and the team has been so willing to learn, willing to implement it every single week."
John Stones, who made his first appearance for City in two months, also lavished praised on Guardiola for bringing out the best in the City squad.
"He's not let standards slip at all,” said Stones. “Every day he's been wanting to improve us individually and as a team.
“It's a credit to him and his staff, he'd never say it's just about him or his staff, it's a collective. I think that's why we've gelled so well together.
"It's literally a dream come true."
City and England team-mate Kyle Walker added: "It's an amazing feeling. We've been looking forward to this as a kid, now we've done it. Brilliant. Now let's go again.
"When we found out we'd won it, it was a couple of weeks until we got the trophy so it didn't really feel that real. We've won it and now we've lifted it, so it's an amazing feeling.
"Over the course of the season, there's been testing moments for us. We've been losing games and drawing games and been we've needed a win at difficult moments, and we've done it the majority of the time.
“You can see from our team spirit that we've been great and I think we deserve it massively."
