Coach Guardiola: 'Defeating MU is more important than setting a record'

Coach Pep Guardiola said his goal in the upcoming Manchester derby is to find a way to defeat Manchester United (MU), not to set a winning record in the Premier League.

Coach Pep Guardiola insists he is not interested in setting a record in the Premier League. Photo: Reuters

Manchester City (MC) currently have 13 consecutive wins in the Premier League. Therefore, if they beat MU in the upcoming derby, "Man City" will catch up with the record of 14 consecutive wins set by Arsenal in 2002. But coach Pep Guardiola affirmed that he does not care about that record in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford next Sunday (December 10).

Speaking at a press conference before the match with MU, the Spanish coach said: "We will catch the record if we win against MU, but I do not care about that. My biggest concern is how MC plays well and gets the best result in the match with MU. If you care about the record, you will forget what you have to do and that is very dangerous. This is a very important match and you cannot afford to make mistakes."

This is the first time since April 2013 that MC and MU entered the Manchester derby while occupying the top two positions in the rankings. After 15 rounds, MC has 43 points, 8 points more than MU. According to experts, if MU loses in this match, the race to the championship will be over.

But Guardiola dismissed that. “It’s too early to say that this game will decide the title. Winning this game doesn’t mean anything. The title race will only be decided after February if we continue to maintain this advantage. There are still many points to take and we are now focused on getting the best result in each match. Manchester City and Manchester United are like twins and we will compete fiercely with each other, because no one wants to lose to the other.”

According to TTO