Manchester City captain Vincent Kompany believes Liverpool did not deserve to feel final-day title woe after Pep Guardiola s side pipped them in an epic race for Premier League glory.
City s 98-point haul ultimately bested Liverpool s 97 – the second and third-highest points totals in Premier League history – after they came from behind to win 4-1 at Brighton and Hove Albion on Sunday.
It means back-to-back titles for City, who carried a 14-game winning streak through until the end of the campaign as Liverpool s pressure in the final stretch never wavered.
Kompany previously hoisted the Premier League trophy as skipper in 2011-12, 2013-14 and last term, but he feels the scale of the challenge City faced this time around makes the success extra special.
It s the hardest and most satisfying Premier League ever, he told Sky Sports.
Liverpool were exceptional this year. I don t mean to rub it in, it is what it is, but there didn t deserve to be a loser today.
It makes me so much more happy – we played against such a good team all season and when our backs were against the walls we won at home [2-1 against Liverpool in January] at the Etihad and that made the difference today.
For myself and for the team and for the fans it s wonderful.
WWWWWWWWWWWWWWinners!
14 wins in a row to wrap up and incredible season!
— Manchester City (@ManCity)
Glenn Murray gave Brighton a first-half lead at the Amex Stadium after Sadio Mane set Liverpool on the way to a 2-0 win over Wolves at Anfield.
Brighton s supporters merrily sung to report this news to the City players – a message Kompany heard loud and clear before Sergio Aguero s quickfire equaliser.
I heard the Brighton fans sing, 1-0 to the Liverpool and it was around the moment we were conceding the goal as well, he said.
But we ve done it before. We were creating chances, we were finding the gaps, we were imposing our style.
Although the pitch was slow we were magnificent. We did everything we needed to do in a game such as this.
Kompany s centre-back partner Aymeric Laporte ensured City were in front at the interval before Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan added gloss to the scoreline in a typically swaggering second-half display.
But Kompany, perhaps predictably, was keen to draw attention to the defensive robustness that has seen his team concede only four times since the end of January in the Premier League.
We all chipped in this season. You talk about the goals – I m thinking about how many clean sheets in the last 15 games or so, it s ridiculous, he said.
We conceded on a set-piece today because we are probably the smallest team in the league.
I m so proud of the guys, to do the work going forward but when we had to win 1-0, 1-0, 1-0, we did the work defensively.
City can become the first team in English football history to complete the domestic treble when they take on Watford in Saturday s FA Cup final and Kompany added: We re looking forward to the FA Cup final now. It s unprecedented. We ll celebrate but we ll be thinking about the next game on Saturday.
