Pep Guardiola responds to Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Man City praise in Manchester United comments

Pep Guardiola welcomed 'the truth' from Manchester United's new co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe and believes they are better off for admitting it.

Ratcliffe used an interview with journalists this week to describe City's performance against Real Madrid last season in the Champions League semi-final as some of the best football he had ever seen, and said they had a lot to learn from their rivals as they try to 'knock them off their perch'. The new leadership has already taken action to back up their words, poaching Omar Berrada from City to be their new CEO and also targeting former academy director Jason Wilcox.

Guardiola took Ratcliffe's words as more evidence that United are serious about chasing City down. "It’s the truth. As much as the teams admit it, they will be closer to us," he said.

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"If they want to deny it for things that are not the reality then it’s their problem. It’s not our problem. When I’ve been below teams I’ve always admired them and thought about what we need to do to be close, to challenge them.

"These are real competitive people. If they want to be judged on things they are comfortable with for one day they will not arrive where we are now.

"When we were below and United were winning, we were watching them, admiring them. We wanted to learn from them. The period of [Sir Alex] Ferguson – the generation with Roy Keane, David Beckham, Gary Neville – and all those big players. Rio Ferdinand.

"I'm pretty sure City admired and thought we want to be there. Now we are there. That’s why, for these type of comments, that I have the feeling that they will be back."

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