Guardiola
Real Madrid are a different side compared to last season thanks to midfielder Jude Bellingham's "obvious" impact, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said after his side were drawn to face the LaLiga club in the Champions League quarter-finals.
Replacing manager Pep Guardiola at Manchester City will be a near impossible job compared to getting a new coach at Liverpool at season's end, Juergen Klopp, manager of the latter, said ahead of Sunday's match against title rivals City.
Pep Guardiola heaped praise on his Burnley counterpart Vincent Kompany following Manchester City's 3-1 Premier League victory on Wednesday, suggesting the latter will one day be in charge at the Etihad Stadium.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said he will miss his old sparring partner Juergen Klopp when the Liverpool manager calls time on his reign at the end of the season.
In their first match since winning the Club World Cup, City climbed back into the league's top four thanks to second-half goals by Phil Foden, Julian Alvarez and Bernardo Silva.
Academy graduate Lewis, who made 23 appearances for City in all competitions last season, was among the Premier League club's best attacking outlets on Wednesday and set up Phil Foden's 25th-minute opener.
Stones has been out since he suffered a pre-season muscle injury and City are also without midfielder Bernardo Silva and have Rodri serving a three-match ban while Kevin De Bruyne is long-term injured.
"We'd be under scrutiny like you couldn't imagine," Guardiola told reporters on Friday. "I couldn't sit here if we spent what Chelsea spent in the last two transfer windows - you would kill me.
City, who won their first Champions League title in June, will kick off their 2023-24 season against runners-up Arsenal on Sunday in the traditional curtain-raiser to the Premier League season.
City have been in no rush to bolster their squad with only midfielder Mateo Kovacic signed for 25 million pounds ($31.89 million) from Chelsea as a replacement for Ilkay Gundogan.
"There are many. Inter are a team used not only to defend. There is a belief that Italian teams only know how to defend, but Inter can do many other things," a relaxed Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
Puyol says that while City, like Guardiola's Barcelona sides, are blessed with attacking options, they also have the same defensive discipline.
"What Manchester (United) are doing in the last five or six months, they're a completely different team to what we faced at the beginning of the season," Guardiola told a press conference on Friday.
The English champions dismantled the holders 4-0 with a ruthless display to secure a 5-1 aggregate win and reach the final against Inter Milan when they will bid to win European club soccer's most prestigious trophy for the first time.
"We play for all competitions," the Spaniard said. "You have to switch and adapt. There are four games left in the Premier League and it's really important to be there and keep our destiny in our hands."
"People are saying it is over - it is not. It will be over when it is over, but it is not over. We still have seven games, we have to (play) our game. Now we go to Fulham against an incredible team," Guardiola told reporters on Friday.
Guardiola's side are just two points off the top with two games in hand, and can take the lead with a victory on Sunday at Fulham.
There had been concerns over Haaland's fitness ahead of his transfer after he missed 16 games due to injury for Dortmund last term, but the Norway international has missed only four for City this campaign.
Guardiola said Foden, who started three of their last 10 Premier League games, asked for time out to rest and recover from the injury.
Guardiola deployed the Portugal international in defence and he was tormented by Arsenal's Bukayo Saka in the clash between the Premier League's top two, however, City did eventually win the game 3-1.
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