Pep Guardiola has warned his Man City side that they will be facing "one of the best players in history" when they come up against Cristiano Ronaldo in the Manchester derby on Saturday.
Ronaldo scored a brace to rescue a point for Man Utd in their 2-2 draw with Atalanta in the Champions League on Tuesday evening, while City managed to look lacklustre despite beating Club Brugge 4-1 on Wednesday.
Guardiola said post-game that he was not able to watch United's midweek game live, but he knows what kind of threat they pose with Ronaldo up front regardless.
"I didn't see the United match [against Atalanta], I'm going to analyse and to see what they are so I know how good they are," Guardiola told a press conference. "We saw it last season. They have one of the best players in history, a guy who can be a scoring machine."
The Catalan had told the media that City's clash with Brugge was more important than the derby earlier in the week, but clarified that he was talking in cliches and was simply referring to the next game being the most crucial.
"People [were upset] for the fact I said today is more important than United and it was," Guardiola added. "Now, the most important game ever is United.
"The second half [against Brugge] was really good. A good game, good victory. We need one point to go through, three points to win the group."
Guardiola also refused to criticise the fixture schedule despite City having just 48 hours to prepare for the derby, which kicks off at 12.30pm on Saturday.
"If they want us to play tomorrow, we will play tomorrow," he said. "The schedule is the schedule. We will be at Old Trafford at 12.30 on Saturday."
Source : 90min