Guardiola honoured that City are top dogs in Manchester

By Sports Desk January 05, 2021

Manchester City will seek to reassert themselves against Manchester United in Wednesday's EFL Cup semi-final, with their status as the leading team in the rivalry for much of the past decade a source of pride to Pep Guardiola.

City have not finished below their neighbours in the Premier League since United's most recent Premier League title success in 2012-13, winning three subsequent top-flight crowns themselves.

Two of those came under Guardiola, United finishing a distant second in 2017-18 as City racked up a record-breaking 100-point haul.

The sides also met at the same stage of the EFL Cup last season, as City prevailed en route to a third consecutive Wembley success in the competition, although there have been signs that the local argument is starting to turn of late.

“United has always been a big club," Guardiola said. "When I faced them with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and here, it was always important.

"It is a rivalry in the city and for many decades United was above Manchester City. For us, we are incredibly proud and it is an honour for the last decade to be there with them and sometimes win, most of the times, and sometimes lose."

A 3-1 first-leg triumph in last season's semi-final is City's only victory in the most recent five Manchester derbies.

United restored pride and caused nerves to jangle with a 1-0 win at the Etihad Stadium as Nemanja Matic scored and was sent off in the return game, while also completing a Premier League double in 2019-20 either side of those matches.

Both teams have hit more impressive form since December's turgid 0-0 draw at Old Trafford in their most recent encounter, although it is United who sit level on points with champions Liverpool at the summit and have a chance to go top if they avoid defeat in their game in hand against Burnley next week.

"They have always been contenders," Guardiola said. "Every year, when we start the season, United is a contender.

"If it didn’t happen in the last few seasons, it is a question for them. It is no different facing United or other contenders."

City turned in a majestic performance as they dispatched Chelsea 3-1 at the weekend - a performance that was all the more impressive after a coronavirus outbreak robbed them of six first-team players.

Kyle Walker and Gabriel Jesus have now completed 10 days of self-isolation after having positive tests confirmed on Christmas Day, but Ederson, Ferran Torres, Eric Garcia and Tommy Doyle will remain unavailable at Old Trafford for a one-off encounter - the EFL having ditched its usual two-legged format to ease fixture congestion.

“We don’t have many players. To play one or two games is okay but if this sustains for a long time and I can only use 14 or 15 players it will be more difficult," Guardiola explained.

"Like everyone in the world, we adapt, you have to adjust our lives and our professions as much as possible and we don’t have an alternative.

"The most important thing is that the guys who have COVID can recover well and the guys handle it well and try to avoid it as much as possible."

City will be in action for the first time since the death of club great Colin Bell, who passed away after a short illness, aged 74.

Players past and present lined up to pay tribute to Bell on Tuesday, with former City captain Vincent Kompany tweeting: "So very sad to hear [of] Colin Bell's passing. Heard all about The King!

"A true Manchester City legend. This man was on another level, if only I could have seen him play. Incredibly kind and humble when I met him."

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    “Thank you to everyone for continuing to trust and support me – The Owner, The Chairman Khaldoon, Ferran, Txiki, the players and, of course, the fans… everyone connected to Manchester City. It has always been an honour, a pleasure and a privilege to be here.  

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    “Hopefully, now we can add more trophies to the ones we have already won. That will be my focus.”

     

    Having been appointed in 2016, Guardiola is by some distance Manchester City's most successful manager of all time, having won 18 major trophies during his time at the club.

    That list includes their first-ever Champions League triumph in 2023 and six Premier League titles, including an unprecedented four on the spin.

    He also boasts a 72.04% win percentage across all competitions, which is unsurprisingly the highest of any full-time City manager in history.

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    Like the Reggae Girlz, South Africa are also fresh off their participation in the 2023 World Cup, and Busby expects the games to be another tough challenge for his side, much like it was in their last meeting in 2019 when they played out a 1-1 stalemate in Durban.

    “Going into these two games against a great-quality opponent in South Africa still gives us a really good litmus test in terms of where we are and, more importantly, where we need to go. So that is the objective. We want to get the wins. We want to improve performance. And we're hoping that these next two games will see a much more improved performance than we have before, that's for sure,” Busby ended. 

    Squad: Rebecca spencer, Liya Brooks, Allyson Swaby, Konya Plummer, Naya Cardoza, Vyan Sampson, Chantelle Swaby, Deneisha Blackwood, Siobhan Wilson, Atlanta Primus, Destiny Powell, Peyton McNamara, Jade Bailey Drew Spence, Paige Bailey-Gayle, Olufolasade Adamolekun, Khadija Shaw, Kayla McKenna, Davia Richards, Jody Brown, Shania Hayles, Shaniel Buckley, Tiffany Cameron

     

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