Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola echoed a sentiment that often gets expressed in the buddy cop genre of film: “I’m too old for this.”
Ahead of this weekend’s crunch clash between his side and Jose Mourinho’s Tottenham Hotspur, the special one engaged in his usual prematch mind games. Mourinho, at his news conference yesterday, claimed that Raheem Sterling would be fit, despite the English winger’s status being in doubt.
Manchester City at Tottenham Hotspur FYIs
Kickoff: Sat Nov 21, 5:30pm GMT, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium
Starting XI Predictions: Tottenham Man City
Odds: Tottenham 3/1 Draw 3/1 Man City 4/5
Referee: Mike Dean
Mourinho even went on to say that City pressured England manager Gareth Southgate into resting Sterling this past international break so that he would be available for this crunch clash. Furthermore, Mourinho invited Guardiola to respond to his allegations.
“You have to speak to the doctors about these other things, don’t ask me,” Guardiola said at his news conference yesterday.
“I’m almost 50. I’m old enough to understand. Listen, I’m not going to answer anything about Jose. Raheem today [Friday] was the first training that he did. Mourinho has to speak to the doctor for the national team of England and the doctor for Manchester City.
“Maybe Mourinho is a doctor, I don’t know. He accused us of something we have done that is not true.”
Mourinho is the Eminem/Slim Shady of soccer- he feuds a lot.
With Arsene Wenger retired and Antonio Conte in a different league/country, you can see why Mourinho is looking to rekindle the rivalry the two men had in La Liga when he was leading Real Madrid and Guardiola FC Barcelona.
And for what it’s worth, Sterling was named to City’s bench today prior to kickoff, so we could see him in action at some point.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.