Guardiola Who Chose To Live In The Maldives Instead Of Training MU

Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola (Twitter @ManCity)

JAKARTA - Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said he would rather stay in the Maldives than train Premier League rivals Manchester United.

The EFL Cup semi-finals are marked by the Manchester derby when City visit United at Old Trafford for the first leg on Tuesday & January.

Guardiola is in a position to move to United before turning from Bayern Munich to City in 2016. The former Barcelona head coach has dominated English football by winning the Premier League trophy and the EFL Cup twice in succession, the FA Cup and the Charity Shield.

In a press conference session ahead of the match against the Red Devils, Guardiola, who was said to be leaving the Etihad in the summer, was asked about the possibility of training rivals and neighbors City, MU.

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- Manchester City (@ManCity) January 5, 2020

"After training City, I will never coach United. It's like I will never coach (Real) Madrid," said Guardiola.

"I choose to live in the Maldives if no offer comes in," he said.

At a time when City have grown further since Guardiola's arrival, on the other hand, United have continued to struggle to catch up in the standings.

United were sixth behind Jose Mourinho in Guardiola's first year in England in 2016. They slumped back to sixth last season after the Portuguese manager was sacked and replaced by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Solskjaer's side are fifth this season - 27 points behind leaders Liverpool and 13 points behind third-placed City in the Premier League.

"I'm sure I didn't come here just to beat United or be ahead of United," said Guardiola. "That's not the target. Our (target) is to play well, try to win the title, which we did in the last two seasons. This season, we won the Community Shield, and now we have the opportunity to go to another final."