Hasan Salihamidzic believes Bayern Munich will be ready to face Manchester City after being paired with the "strongest possible opponent" in Friday's Champions League quarter-final draw.
City recovered from a shaky first leg against RB Leipzig to thump them 7-0 at home and secure their place in the last eight with an 8-1 aggregate victory.
Bayern, meanwhile, impressively eased past French champions Paris Saint-Germain 3-0 on aggregate to set them up for a tie against City which will see Pep Guardiola return to the club he coached between 2013 and 2016.
Bayern sporting director Salihamidzic is relishing the opportunity to face off against one of the favourites, telling reporters: "I like playing against the good teams.
"Our boys are very focused and this is a top tie. It's a tough opponent, the strongest possible in my opinion.
"So this is another little final. After Paris, this is again a group we have to play that has a lot of quality.
"They won very convincingly against Leipzig. We will see Pep Guardiola again and I'm looking forward to the games."
Prolific striker Erling Haaland has scored 39 goals in all competitions since signing for City, including five against Leipzig in City's second-leg rout on Tuesday.
But while Salihamidzic acknowledged the quality Haaland and City possess, he has confidence in his team's defence to hold up against such a formidable attacking force.
"Haaland is one of the best strikers in the world," Salihamidzic added. "He does it very, very well.
"But we defended very well against Paris. I believe that we perform best against the best teams.
"These are also the highlights of the season for the fans. This is a top pairing. I'm looking forward to it."
Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn feels games against the likes of City are a great litmus test for whether the Bavarian side have what it takes to go on and lift their seventh Champions League.
Like Salihamidzic, he appeared to be relishing the challenge.
"Manchester City are an absolute top team, but we are Bayern Munich," Kahn said.
"We must and will be ready for this big opponent. If you want to win the Champions League, you have to beat the best.
"That's the challenge - and we're happy to take it on."
Haiti, Canada, Costa Rica, Honduras qualify for Concacaf Gold Cup
Haiti, Canada, Costa Rica and Honduras all qualified for the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup following the results of their matches on Saturday in the 2022-23 Concacaf Nations League.
Haiti defeated Montserrat 4-0 to claim the top spot in Group B of League B to clinch their Gold Cup place.
Canada topped Curacao 2-0 to secure at least a second-place finish in Group C of League A, thus qualifying them for the Gold Cup. Even though they were not in action, the Canada win also assured Honduras a berth in this summer’s Gold Cup as well.
Costa Rica will also play in the Gold Cup again after rallying late from a 1-0 deficit to claim a 2-1 win in Martinique in Group B of League A.
Haiti, Canada, Costa Rica and Honduras join the United States, Mexico, El Salvador, Panama and Jamaica as teams that have punched their ticket to this summer’s tournament.
The winners and second-place finishers from the League A groups and the winners of each group in League B group will directly for the Gold Cup.
The second-place teams from the League B groups and the third-place teams from League A will join the winners of each League C group in the Gold Cup Prelims.
Southgate hails ruthless Saka after stunning England strike
Gareth Southgate praised the ruthlessness of Bukayo Saka after his starring role in England's 2-0 win over Ukraine.
England made it six points from two Euro 2024 qualifiers with a routine win at Wembley on Sunday.
Saka, a leading light in Arsenal's challenge for the Premier League title, supplied the assist for Harry Kane's opener in the 37th minute.
He then made it 2-0 three minutes later by bending a magnificent long-range strike into the top-right corner, his eighth goal for the Three Lions.
"It is a top-level finish [from Saka]," Southgate told Channel 4.
"That is the ruthless part he has added to his game in the last 18 months or so. There were times you weren't sure he was going to finish, but now he has that confidence in front of goal."
England were in control throughout, with Ukraine never looking likely to produce a comeback in a game where they did not manage a shot on target.
The command England enjoyed naturally delighted Southgate, who also had plaudits for James Maddison, the Leicester City playmaker creating five chances in an impressive showing.
"The risk is that when you have control of the game you have the odd sloppy pass, but the application throughout was excellent," added Southgate.
"We have broken down a lot of barriers over a period of time. We still had that question mark over some of the bigger teams.
"We are starting to win those games now but there is still lots of room for improvement.
"To back up the Italy result was important, but there is still room to grow."
"We are always trying to think about now and what is next. We did that with James Maddison today. We thought it was a good game to see him.
"He was defensively very solid. It was nice to get Ivan Toney on the pitch as well. We will always look at people, but we have to qualify and we can't take that for granted."
Juventus midfielder Kostic out of Serbia squad with Achilles injury
Juventus midfielder Filip Kostic has been ruled out of Serbia's Euro 2024 qualifier against Montenegro with an Achilles injury.
The 30-year-old played a full part in Friday's 2-0 win over Lithuania and set up Dusan Tadic's early opener.
But Kostic will not be available against Montenegro at Podgorica City Stadium on Monday, having returned to his club side for treatment.
"It's bad news for us," Serbia head coach Dragan Stojkovic said at Sunday's pre-match press conference. "He left the team because he has Achilles tendinitis.
"There is no need to take any risks with him. The decision was to return to the club. I'm always sorry when a player gets injured – there's nothing worse for a coach."
Juventus will hope to have Kostic available for a busy run of fixtures when they return to action later this week.
Massimiliano Allegri's side have nine games in April across three competitions, starting with Saturday's Serie A meeting with Hellas Verona at the Allianz Stadium.
Kostic has played in 38 of Juve's 39 matches this season – only Danilo has featured as regularly – and has a team-high 11 assists to go with his three goals.
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