Manchester United offer Pep Guardiola an extra incentive with Man City

Since he arrived in England, Pep Guardiola has always talked up the importance of history.

The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss has always considered previous success to be a big factor in assessing where a team should be. He described Manchester City as 'teenagers' in the Champions League four years ago to suggest they were not as established as others, and described United's brief dalliance with the top of the Premier League this season as 'the position they normally should be' despite their lack of a title since 2013.

It was easy to see what he meant at the Allianz Arena where City were hit with the force of not just 11 players but the entire might of Bayern Munich as one of Europe's biggest superclubs threw everything at the Blues to overcome their first-leg deficit. Days later, their opponents may have been second-tier but Guardiola's respect for Wembley and the FA Cup could be seen by his team selection that included several stars that had run themselves into the ground in Germany.

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For all the domestic domination City have enjoyed in recent years, there is a reason Guardiola is still pointing to Real Madrid as the team to beat in the Champions League in the semi-final. Even if some of it is to amplify the potential achievement for himself and his club, there are few in football who could argue against the size of 14-times winners Real going up against zero-times winners City.

Should the Blues make it all the way in Europe this year, there will be extra satisfaction for having beaten multiple giants of the competition to do so. A final against a Milan club, even if seen as less difficult than the previous two rounds,