Pep Guardiola 'respects' Manchester United and defends Erik ten Hag ahead of FA Cup final
"Manchester United are still United. Of course, in the Premier League, we were better than them, more consistent than them, but it's just one game," said Pep Guardiola in a press conference.
Manchester City have just won the league for the fourth time in a row, a run unprecedented in England. The Manchester club will become the first to complete the Premier League and Cup double two years in a row if they win at Wembley on Saturday (4pm CET).
"If history gives us the opportunity to do something unprecedented, let's give it a go. Maybe (it will be) an extra motivation for the players. I haven't spoken to them about that specifically. Just playing for the trophy is enough," replied Guardiola.
Manchester United, on the other hand, have been weakened by a season that ended with them in eighth place in the league, their worst finish since 1990.
"We respect United a lot, it's always been like that since I arrived (in 2016, editor's note), for its history. Over the last decade, we've been better, but from a historical point of view, they're the best team in England, and for that you have to respect them enormously," commented Guardiola.
Manchester United are the most successful club in the league (twenty titles, most recently in 2013) and the second most successful in the FA Cup (twelve, most recently in 2016).
Guardiola said he "agreed" with Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag's analysis, which identified injuries as one of the main reasons for their poor season.
"I have a lot of respect for his work in the past, and now at United. They didn't have a full squad. (They've had) a lot of injuries, the coach has suffered a lot," he said. "If I lost a lot of centre-backs, I'd be in trouble too.
The defensive area has been particularly hit hard by a series of physical problems, at full-back and especially at centre-back. The various potential first-choice players (Maguire, Varane, Lindelof, Martinez, Evans, etc.) have all been injured for varying lengths of time.
Harry Maguire will miss the FA Cup final through injury and for City, goalkeeper Ederson is unavailable. In any case, his understudy Stefan Ortega would have started as he has throughout the FA Cup campaign.