Pep Guardiola claims Manchester United is one of the best teams in the world

Manchester United will host Manchester City in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinal on Tuesday. Both the teams have been inconsistent throughout the season and would want to win this tie against their bitter rivals.

Manchester United is sitting on fifth position and is four points off the top four. They have struggled to break the teams with deep blocks, but they have taken full advantage of the pace of their forwards against the traditional big teams. One of the big teams to lose against Manchester United was Pep Guardiola's City. The Spanish manager has not forgotten that defeat as he sang praises of United's frontline. 

Guardiola expects United to come up with a similar strategy again as the pace is their strength. He further claimed that when United's forwards get an opportunity to run, they can be one of the best teams in the world. 

“It will be quite similar. Of course at Old Trafford, it will be quite different to here, but they are a team that is built to run. When they can run they are one of the best teams, and not just in England, I would say, because of the pace they have – [Daniel] James, [Mason] Greenwood, [Anthony] Martial, [Marcus] Rashford and [Jesse] Lingard," the Manchester City manager said as quoted by Sky Sports

While Guardiola is wary of the threat posed by United on counters, he refuses to change his tactics. The Spanish manager said that his team will prepare for the threat but it is important to play own game. 

“I have the feeling they are going to run, one or two or three times, or as many times as possible, and we have to reduce the mistakes in the build-up. We have to be prepared for that but we have to do our game. I am not going to prepare our game just thinking, ‘don’t let them run. We have to go there and try to score a goal, play our game and try to get a good result from there.” He further added.

The manager who has won back to back Premier League titles talked about his team's performance in the 2-1 defeat to Solskjaer's men in the league. He admitted that United dominated the early exchanges in the game but pointed out that City created a lot of opportunities after that spell. 

“Except for the first minutes when we conceded three or four times when they could run, the rest of the game I liked a lot the game we played and the chances we created in many situations.? I would like to play quite similar," The 48-year-old concluded.

Cover image credits: Sky Sports