“So sensitive in Italy!” -Guardiola

Manchester City is preparing to host Bayern Munich tonight in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal. City are one of the favorites to win the competition this year. They first have to make it past Bayern and then would move on to play either Real Madrid or Chelsea in the semifinals.

Napoli is Champions League contender as well

Another team who is in contention to make it to the Champions League final is the Serie A team, Napoli. They will face AC Milan in the quarterfinals and then either Inter Milan or Benfica in the semifinals.

Guardiola was asked to talk about Napoli during his press conference ahead of the Bayern match, but he refused to do so.

“I don’t want to talk about Napoli because the manager will be grumpy with me,” said Guardiola. “So sensitive in Italy!”

He is making a reference to the harsh comments Napoli manager Luciano Spalletti made after Guardiola called them “perhaps the best team in Europe this year”. Spalletti’s response to that was unimpressed, writing Guardiola’s comments off as mind games meant to throw them off.

“I don’t feel proud, I don’t feel anything. I know this game that everyone does to put pressure on the others,” said Spalletti. “Are we putting Napoli in front of Manchester City? If they can spend €900m compared to our €9m, there must be a reason. It’s a game to build us up so they can knock us down.”

That taught Guardiola to think twice before complimenting Spalletti’s side again.