Pep Guardiola reveals Europe's elite alongside Arsenal and two former clubs, pointedly excluding PSG.
Manchester City beat Arsenal on Sunday at Wembley in the League Cup final, and Pep Guardiola was very proud after the match, saying his team had beaten one of the three best teams in Europe. A trio in which he does not place PSG.
Eliminated from the Champions League by Real Madrid and trailing Arsenal by nine points in the Premier League (though with a game in hand), Manchester City won the ninth League Cup in club history on Sunday by beating the Gunners 2-0 at Wembley thanks to a brace from Nico O'Reilly, 21, who was helped on his first goal by a major blunder from Kepa Arrizabalaga, Arsenal's backup goalkeeper.
With his future at the helm of the Citizens uncertain, Pep Guardiola was very happy on Sunday after this 19th title in 10 years since his arrival at Manchester. "This victory means a lot. It's always difficult to win a title, so it holds great value in my eyes," he said at the start of his news conference.
Guardiola then lavished praise on his opponent of the day, as if to add even more value to his team's victory: "We celebrated with joy and satisfaction this victory against Arsenal, who is, in my opinion, the best team in Europe along with Bayern Munich and perhaps FC Barcelona."
As you may have noticed, the Catalan coach does not mention PSG, the reigning European champion, in his statement. A simple oversight? Perhaps, unless he finds it difficult to praise the work of Luis Enrique or simply considers this PSG to be weaker than the other three teams... In any case, we note that he mentions two of his former clubs (Bayern and Barcelona) along with Arsenal, which leads the Premier League and finished first in the Champions League's league phase.
If PSG wants to go all the way in the Champions League this season, it will have to eliminate Liverpool in the quarterfinals, then the winner of the Real Madrid vs. Bayern Munich clash. Arsenal is in the other half of the bracket, and PSG could only face them in a potential final.
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