Pep Guardiola issues cheeky dig at Manchester United over Ruben Amorim meetings

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was keen to include a cheeky dig at Manchester United ahead of their future clashes with Ruben Amorim in England.

The two coaches met for the first time since 2022 in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night, with the Portuguese coach coming out on top in a staggering 4-1 win for Sporting on his final match at Estádio José Alvalade before making the move to England.

Ruben Amorim will become the next manager of Manchester United next Monday having completed a rebuild of the Lisbon club and winning two Portuguese top-flight titles in the last four seasons, ending a run of almost 20 years without such trophy.

But given the outstanding performance of Sporting, and Manchester City succumbing to his third consecutive defeat this season across competitions, Pep Guardiola was quizzed on the prospect of having to face Amorim very soon in the English game.

Speaking during his post-match press conference in Lisbon after the 4-1 defeat to Sporting, Guardiola issued a pretty plain explanation of what is to come between himself and Ruben Amorim, including a cheeky dig at Manchester United.

“He (Ruben Amorim) will be the manager of United, and we’re going to face them two times in the Premier League and I don’t know, maybe in the FA Cup,” said Guardiola. “In the Champions League it cannot be possible, and we’ll see.”

Guardiola continued, “I learn from all the managers I face, Ruben I think as well, so yeah, but you have to understand that my concern is focussing not on the challenge of playing United, it’s seeing what we can do to come back to our best, and this is what we’re going to try and do.”

Manchester City take on Manchester United in the first of two scheduled meetings this season on Sunday 15 December, with Ruben Amorim’s squad travelling to the Etihad Stadium for a Premier League encounter between the two sides.

That contest will come at another hugely challenging point in Manchester City’s season with fixtures coming thick and fast, and the Manchester derby sandwiched between away trips to Juventus in the UEFA Champions League and Aston Villa in the Premier League.