Rio Ferdinand details what Man City boss Pep Guardiola must do to become world’s greatest manager

Rio Ferdinand says Pep Guardiola winning the Champions League with Manchester City will make him the outright greatest manager in the world.

The Catalan has won the Champions League twice in his career while at Barcelona in 2009 and 2011. He comes up against Carlo Ancelotti in this year’s semi-final against Real Madrid, the Italian winning the competition on four occasions.

The two are pitted as the best managers in global football given their domestic and European successes. Guardiola, though, has not lifted the Champions League trophy in 12 years after spells at Bayern Munich and now City.

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Some critics suggest that the influence of Lionel Messi was paramount in Guardiola’s Champions League success with Barcelona. However, Ferdinand says he will silence that talk if he lifts ‘big ears’ with City.

Speaking to BT Sport, the former Manchester United defender said: “People try and throw ‘he hasn’t won it without Messi, he can’t win it without Messi.’ If he wins this here I think he goes standalone as the greatest [manager in world football].”

Fellow pundit Owen Hargreaves added: “I think Pep is the best [manager in the world], personally, but I do think that he needs to win this competition with Manchester City to put the icing on the cake.

“Yes, he’s done it before, he’s done it with great teams. He is an unbelievable manager and for me, it won’t take him to, but for the general public they’d want to see him win it with another team.

“This is the team that Pep built, he’s been here quite a while now, he probably ought to be winning it with the quality. Listen, Man City have been one of the best teams - if not the best team - in Europe for the last two or three seasons anyway, so