Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said he warned his players about the need to contain Cristiano Ronaldo in the derby with the Red Devils. Speaking at the pre-match press conference, the Spaniard, who has won eight trophies with the Blues, including three Premier League titles, said that despite Ronaldo’s age, he remains a "goalscoring machine".
"As a finisher he's exceptional, I'm not going to disguise it was a joy to watch him these years. We have to explode our game, our strength is to avoid Cristiano close to the box, because there he is almost unstoppable", he said.
It seems there is no other person who knows Ronaldo better than Pep Guardiola, who coached Catalan giants Barcelona from 2008 to 2012. The Portuguese star played for Barca’s fierce rivals Real Madrid at the time.
Ronaldo continued to terrorise Guardiola even when the Spaniard went to the Bundesliga to coach Bayern Munich. Real Madrid thrashed Bayern 4-1 in the final of UEFA Champions League 2013/2014, with Ronaldo scoring one goal.
The Portuguese, who turned 37 last month, has so far scored 15 goals and made three assists this season. However, the athlete scored all of these goals in 2021, hitting the target only once this year.