Former Bayern Munich manager Hansi Flick used to drill a singular message into his players: «Success can't be bought. It's rented. And every day the rent is due.»
Across the storied history of European football, only a handful of clubs have ever lined the pocket of the metaphorical landlord long enough to win as many as five trophies in the same calendar year.
Here's a look at the few sides to have gone not one but two better than the hallowed feat of a treble.
Year
Trophies
1995
Eredivisie, Champions League, Dutch Super Cup, Intercontinental Cup, UEFA Super Cup
Dutch football giants Ajax have contributed some of the greatest club sides ever to grace the continent but Johan Cruyff's Total Footballers from the 1970s could not quite match the feat of the 1995 vintage.
While this no doubt thrilled manager Louis van Gaal, who had a long-running personal rivalry with Cruyff that stretched back to their playing days, one of the five trophies Ajax won in 1995, the Dutch equivalent of the Community Shield, would later be named after Cruyff.
Nevertheless, Van Gaal's side are worthy of their own golden thread in history. Not only did Ajax win the 1995 Champions League final, defeating Juventus 1-0, but they lifted that year's Dutch top-flight title without losing a single game.
Year
Trophies
2009
Copa del Rey, La Liga, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup
2011
La Liga, Champions League, Spanish Super Cup, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup
2015
Copa del Rey, La Liga, Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup
Before the 2009 Club World Cup final against Estudiantes, as Barcelona targeted an unprecedented sixth trophy of the calendar year, Pep Guardiola told his players: «If we lose today, we will still be the
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