Pep Guardiola has said he cannot remember Sir Alex Ferguson talking to him about the Manchester United manger’s job, but adds it would not have made a difference about taking over at Manchester City.
“I know he has said that but I don’t remember,” Guardiola told a news conference. “We spoke about life, about football of course, about the Premier League, but he never sent me a message under the table to say, ‘you know, maybe United’ or something like that.
“I remember, he spoke really fast, it was difficult to understand. It was nice because he chose an amazing restaurant and of course he paid!”
“After that [it was] Manchester City. I said if I go to the Premier League I will go to them because I know Txiki and I met Khaldoon in the last period in Munich and they show more interest than anyone else and that was so important to me,” Guardiola said.
“[They said] I want you not just for the hypothetical titles you are going to win, or what you won in the past, but I want you, and that is why I accepted to come and I don’t have any regrets.”
Guardiola has tried to play down the Jose rivalry and insists he takes no extra pleasure from beating Mourinho’s teams.
“My opinion about what he has done as a manager will never change. I know the way we see the game is different but we love to compete, we love to win games,” he said.
“But, believe me, it is not a special situation when I beat somebody’s teams at all. I want to win but when I lose I accept the defeat and I try to learn from that for the next one. Then we move on.
“I respect a lot of my colleagues, Jose as well. We want to beat each other but what happens on the pitch happens on the pitch. After that it is over.”
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