In the 2022-23 season, Manchester City completed a historic treble. Little did fans know, Netflix cameras were in the thick of it all, capturing footage for a new documentary spotlighting the side’s achievement.
For years, sports fans have been accustomed to Netflix’s sporting documentaries honing in on past sporting incidents, good and bad. The streaming giant’s Untold series, which has told the stories of Johnny Manziel and the mid-2000s Florida Gators college football side, is a perfect example. As is The Last Dance, which we all know by now.
However, in recent years, largely due to the popularity of Formula 1’s Drive to Survive series, Netflix has entered the world of sporting documentaries recounting sporting stories not long after they happened.
A new documentary series focusing on Manchester City’s historic 2022-23 treble-winning season, where Pep Guardiola’s side lifted the Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League, is the latest sporting story to be illuminated by Netflix cameras.
A six-part series, ‘Together: Treble Winners’ will be unmissable for all sports fans, particularly football fans. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of its much-anticipated release.
Key details of Manchester City’s Netflix documentary
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When is the series released?
2 April, 2024
We have less than one month to prepare for the series hitting our screens. April is when the European footballing calendar enters the pointy end. Title races become clearer, points gain extra importance and results can make or break seasons.
By the time the documentary hits screens, Manchester City would have played both Liverpool and Arsenal, their two Premier League title rivals, Newcastle in the FA Cup quarter-finals and received clarity around who their next Champions League knockout stage opponent is.
Is there a trailer?
Yes.
What can we expect from it?
According to a club press release, cameras followed the 2023-24 City side from early in the season, capturing Erling Haaland’s first moments at the club where his father, Alf-Inge, made a name for himself, through to the completion of its treble.
Fans will remember Pep’s side’s slow start to the Premier League season, which saw Arsenal race out to what at one stage felt like an insurmountable lead in the title race. In a topsy-turvy season, interrupted by the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar, Guardiola famously shifted from his preferred 4-3-3 formation to his hybrid back-three system currently deployed by City.
Many credit this formation as a primary driver of City’s success that season. This is due to many factors, including its ability to allow the side to balance between chaos and control, increasing their defensive solidity and liberating John Stones into a free-roaming role, which he excelled at in the Champions League final against Inter.
2022-23 was also the first season of Erling Haaland at City. What a season it was. For a while, it looked like the Norwegian would never stop scoring. At one point, having scored three hat-tricks in his first nine Premier League games, he was on track for 60 Premier League goals.
The series will give fans a behind-the-scenes look at the beast that is Erling Haaland, and the drive and professionalism he possesses to make him one of the finest footballers of his generation.
Away from the pitch, the season was the final of both Ilkay Gundogan and Riyad Mahrez’s highly successful tenures at City. Gundogan placed an exclamation point on his time at City by opening the scoring within 12 seconds of the FA Cup final, the fastest goal in FA Cup final history.
Fans might also get inside access into the relationship breakdown between Pep Guardiola and Joao Cancelo. At one time the Portuguese fullback was one of Pep’s most trusted lieutenants, until he wasn’t. City’s Spanish coach also re-signed with the club until 2025 during the season.
Perhaps the most important point of the season came in February when City were charged with committing over 100 financial breaches between 2009 and 2018 by the Premier League and referred to an independent commission.
While the case’s outcome won’t be broadcast in the documentary, viewers could potentially see how the club’s players and coaches reacted to the news.
Speaking about City’s 2022-23 campaign, Pep Guardiola shared; “To win the Treble was a truly special moment for this Club and every single person involved from our players, our coaches, our backroom staff all worked so hard every single day to achieve what we did.”
Club captain, Kyle Walker, explained, “As players, we’re proud of everything we achieved and this series captures the determination, hard work and togetherness we have as a team to drive us forward and win.”
What differentiates Together: Treble Winners from City’s All or Nothing series?
Success. In the 2017-18 season, captured from the Prime Video Sport series, All or Nothing: Manchester City, City won the Premier League and League Cup, but fell short in both the FA Cup and Champions League.
Another reason is the players. Of that 2017-18 City side only Ederson, Kyle Walker, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, John Stones, Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden played a major role in City’s historic 2022-23 campaign.
In the time between both series filming, City has acquired some intense and relaxed characters who’ve added spice and drive to the dressing room and Together: Treble Winners. These include Rodri, Jack Grealish, Ruben Dias and of course, Erling Haaland.
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Who’s the team behind the film?
Netflix, obviously. However, they’re only streaming the series. City Studios, the club’s creative content production hub, produced the series. Whether this makes for a better or worse product remains to be seen.
