Pep Guardiola brushed off an unexpected comparison to Antoni Gaudi as he arrived in Slovakia for Manchester City’s latest Champions League assignment.
Slovan Bratislava coach Vladimir Weiss Senior drew parallels between the work of the renowned Catalan architect – designer of Barcelona’s famous Sagrada Familia cathedral – and the City boss ahead of Tuesday’s encounter between the two clubs.
“I would compare Pep to Antoni Gaudi,” said Weiss at his pre-match press conference. “He’s been building something and he is a genius.
“Just like Gaudi had his idea of a cathedral, now he’s achieved what he wanted to do. He’s selected players who fit his philosophy.”
Guardiola, who famously guided Barcelona to two Champions League titles and oversaw City’s success in the competition in 2023, was a little bemused at the analogy.
“No glass of wine for my colleague?” Guardiola joked. “I appreciated that a lot, but from Catalonia Gaudi was maybe the greatest.”
Guardiola insisted the compliments would not detract him from his objective as City seek their first win of the league phase following their draw with Inter Milan a fortnight ago.
He said: “I want to say something honest – with this start of the press conference (it seems like) we are going to play a friendly game tomorrow.
“I’m a little bit concerned about that in terms of the questions about Gaudi and this kind of thing. It’s a competition!
“With this new format, I don’t know exactly how you handle it and how many points you need. At the end, it’s a competition.
“Perform well, improve on the bad things and that’s what I like most in my process.”
City have travelled with a squad of 19, playmaker Kevin De Bruyne again missing with the pelvic injury suffered in the Inter game.
Guardiola remains unclear when the Belgium international will be able to return.
“For Fulham or after the international break, hopefully he will be OK,” Guardiola said.
Last season’s player of the year Phil Foden has had a slow start to the new campaign due to fitness issues, but Guardiola feels he is now ready to deliver.
He said: “Phil will be back. In the 30 minutes he played at St James’ Park I felt something that I liked.
“We cannot forget after the Euros he was two months without training with a few niggles. Now he is smiling a bit and in his rhythm. I don’t have any doubts.”
City need to find a way to function without influential midfielder Rodri after the Spain international was ruled out for the rest of the season with a serious knee injury.
JOHN 💬 At the end of the day, it's a game of football against a quality team. You can get sucked into what goes on around the game. We are focused on doing the job at hand. We know how difficult it's going to be. We have come here to win and that won't be easy. It's another… pic.twitter.com/d417vqV8vo
— Manchester City (@ManCity) September 30, 2024
Defender John Stones, who like Foden has been eased back into action this term after a busy summer, says he is ready to step up if required.
“Yes, if called upon, 100 per cent,” said Stones when asked if he would like to play in midfield.
“It was difficult news for us all to take. Over the past few seasons he has been incredible.
“We know what a key player he has been for us, but we’ve got a lot of quality and a lot of players that are more than capable of filling in in that position.”
