Have all the respect for what Arsenal are on the pitch: Guardiola

Manchester, July 21 (IANS) Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said he does not have much respect for Arsenal off the pitch.

Arsenal knocked City out of the FA Cup semi-finals last weekend.

“The opponents always deserve my respect and credit, and Arsenal, they have it..

“I have all the respect for what Arsenal are on the pitch — not much off the pitch, but on the pitch a lot. So I congratulate them and good luck against Chelsea in the final,” Guardiola was quoted as saying by Sky Sports.

Guardiola recently also urged his players to increase their standards in the upcoming days if they want to progress into the next round of the UEFA Champions League at the expense of Real Madrid.

City currently hold the edge over Real as they had beaten the recently-crowned LaLiga champions 2-1 at Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of Round of 16 clash before the tournament was postponed due to coronavirus pandemic.

City were stunned 0-2 in the FA Cup semi-final by Arsenal on Saturday.

“I don’t have to tell them. They have to know it because we know the standards that we have to be at these kinds of stages and competitions,” Guardiola told reporters as per mirror.co.uk.

“Maybe we will learn and maybe not. We will see. We struggled to play at our level and we know it. You don’t have to be a genius to realise we have to increase our standard against (Real) Madrid if we want to have any chance to go through.”

A two-year ban from European football on the club was lifted by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Guardiola said that City were “damaged” from the allegations while Tottenham Hotspur manager Jose Mourinho and Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp both spoke against the decision.

–IANS

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