There is no doubt as to who won the pre Manchester Derby press conferences, and what Q&A was the most entertaining. Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola met the media a few hours ago to preview the derby, and a reporter brought up recent comments made by Dani Alves, who played under Guardiola at Barcelona.
Alves said that Guardiola’s coaching was better than sex, and when asked about these remarks, the City boss answered: “I prefer the sex!” The exchange prompted boisterous laughter from the room of journalists, and you can see the back and forth in the video below around the 16:30 mark.
That was followed up by a query as to why so many players who love his coaching style and working under him. The answer included a slight, but obvious dig at Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The two men have had a falling out since their days together at Barcelona.
“I can see a huge list who are on the opposite side, a list where they love me a lot, like Dani,” Guardiola continued.
“They have another side from Sweden and other places where they don’t like me too much. Normally it happens when people don’t play regularly they are not big fans. We try to convince them – sometimes yes, sometimes no.”
Earlier in the news conference, Pep was asked about the magnitude of this game. He said it is special of course, but not the biggest game of all.
“All derbies are special, I think in Spain there is more noise than here but special, special for everybody,” the Spaniard stated.
“Of course it means a lot to the supporters, they are special but we are in Novmeber, maybe the game at Old Trafford will be more important but it’s a good one for us and United.
“Like all the games are so tight, last minutes no team controlled the game and you have to defend well and try to attack like we’ve done in the last few games.”
Manchester Derby FYIs
Starting XI Predictions: coming soon
Jose Mourinho Press Conference Videos, Quotes: coming soon
Injury Report for Both Teams: go to this link
Kickoff: Sunday, November 11, 4 pm local, Etihad Stadium
Odds via Odds Shark: United 5/1 Draw 3/1 City 53/20
Prediction: City 1, United 1
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Lineups.com and Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.