03 March 2024 , 08:18
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Pep Guardiola has thanked Sir Jim Ratcliffe for describing Manchester City as the greatest - but has warned the new Manchester United co-owner that the Blues are going to get even better.
Ratcliffe admitted that City's Champions League demolition of Real Madrid last season was the best football performance he has ever seen. Britain’s richest man made his first signing by snatching executive Omar Berrada away from the Etihad to become United’s CEO.
But Guardiola insists that City are in no mood to relinquish their position as the Premier League ’s most dominant force. “Sir Jim Ratcliffe made those comments and it is completely an honour for all of us,” said the City boss. “I just can say ‘thank you so much.’
“Sometimes it is much more than a title when you hear the compliments of personalities that make this country. At the end, football can produce emotions and feelings - and when our rivals accept this it helps us so much to do our job. So thank you so much. I say that on behalf of all of us.
“The best way to improve is to know exactly what is really happening, honestly. The best way is to say to yourself and your people ‘what is the reality, what are we doing, what are we playing, what is the next chapter?’
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“When you are bad, you are bad. When you are not good, you are not good. It happened with us. Previously when we were bad we had to accept it - and after that it is the best way.
“That is the best way to reduce (the gap), be closer and come back as the team you want to be, or were. They know it."
Guardiola has always been gushing in his praise for his players. But he also recognises the role that chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, chief executive Ferran Soriano, Txiki Begiristain and others have played in transforming the club into a juggernaut.
Sir Jim Ratcliffe heaped praise on Manchester City (PA)And ahead of the Manchester derby, he told Ratcliffe that City won’t make closing the gap an easy task. Guardiola added: “Many, many executives and important players have gone in the recent past and new people have come in.
“They have to (improve the club). I demand for myself the best and they have to demand of themselves the best. So in all departments of the club, always we can do better.
“Otherwise you sit and wait and review what you have done while the other people in the other teams are working. When you rest, they are working - and working harder because they want to pull you out. It’s normal in football and in life to be like that.
“I know we can do better. Not just the players, or the manager, or the staff and backroom staff. All departments in the club have to feel like they want to do it.”
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