Guardiola’s City visit Mourinho’s United on Saturday in the first Manchester derby since the high-profile pair took charge of their respective clubs in the close season.
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When pointed out he sought out a nice bottle of wine for Sir Alex Ferguson in the past, he retorted: “Because I know he loves it”.
Mourinho said he was more concerned with City’s players than Guardiola.
“Man City spent the money to bring them in direct flights from Venezuela, or maybe they sent one of the planes from the owner”.
Kevin De Bruyne believes Pep Guardiola’s signings have rejuvenated a Manchester City team in need of a revamp.
“Most of the players are happy with me because they play and the players that don’t play, they are not happy”. To try to play good.
The one thing that will dictate how this match goes is how Manchester City cope without Sergio Aguero because he is the kind of player who makes a difference. They have an wonderful reach (in terms of) squad options, and in our job you can have many decisions and different decisions.
There’s a rivalry of course between these two sets of fans, especially in recent years as City have caught up and arguably overtaken United in the quality of their football, but this year this rivalry stretches as far as the managers.
The captain of Armenia national team sustained an injury during Czech Republic-Armenia friendly on August 31 and returned to England early to have treatment on his thigh.
Mourinho has had less time to work with his players this week because most have been on global duty – Antonio Valencia, Marcos Rojo and Sergio Romero only arrived back in time for training on Friday – and he says Aguero’s absence means there are many different scenarios he needs to drill with his players.
“It depends on the way we play”.
“Yes, it [Aguero’s absence] changes, because it is more hard”, Mourinho told Sky Sports when quizzed on the matter. We know the formation, we know their dynamic. On the other hand, he can have many decisions, different decisions. I want the ball, I want to attack as much as possible, I want to control the game and I want to concede few counter-attacks. “It is clear that they have many options”, Mourinho added.
“It is one thing if he decides to play with [Kelechi] Iheanacho, another thing if he decides to play with [Raheem] Sterling, another one is if he decides to play with [David] Silva as a fake No 9 between the lines”.
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“This game belongs to the players, it doesn’t belong to me and Jose. It’s more hard. It looks a little bit of a contradiction, but without Aguero it is more hard”.
