Pep Guardiola warns Manchester City that a Champions League Final ‘against an Italian team is not the best gift, honestly’ as the date is set to face Inter.
The showdown will be in Istanbul on June 10 and there’s no denying that the Premier League side are the overwhelming favourites, especially as it could potentially be a Treble.
The coach, who played in Serie A for Brescia and Roma, confirms he watched Inter beat Milan 1-0 last night for a 3-0 aggregate semi-final victory.
“A Final against an Italian team is not the best gift, honestly,” he told BT Sport.
“This victory will bring a lot of compliments, I know that’s normal, but we have time to prepare mentally and of course we’re going to try to do it.”
City are on the verge of winning the Premier League for the third year in a row, are in the FA Cup Final against Manchester United on June 3 and are trying to win their first ever Champions League trophy.
Inter won it three times already, most recently in 2010, and the last time Guardiola lifted this trophy was at Barcelona in 2011.
Guardiola has already shown some tension during the tournament about their status as favourites, trying to tip it over to Napoli, a technique that Luciano Spalletti saw straight through.