Pep Guardiola has warned Manchester City not to underestimate Shakhtar Donetsk in their Champions League Group F clash at the Etihad on Tuesday night.
The Ukrainians have lost on five of their six visits to England, drawing the other match. But they have won their last five away games in the competition and caused Guardiola plenty of problems when they came up against his Barcelona side in the past.
The City boss does not need reminding that a 3-3 draw at unfancied Celtic in the second Champions League group game almost exactly a year ago derailed his 10-game winning start in English football and began a run of six matches without a win.
Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City side not to underestimate Shakhtar Donetsk
‘The players are going to see how good they are and hopefully I can convince them to take it seriously,’ said Guardiola.
‘It will be the eighth time I play against Shakhtar in my career, so far I have once in the Super Cup and six times in the Champions League. Every time before I have the same feeling.
‘The first time we faced them in the group stage, my team went to see them and came back saying “wow”. They were really impressed. Fernandinho played and Douglas Costa and they had a lot of Brazilians.
Guardiola believes their an underrated side and knows it is always a tough game against them
‘In Barcelona all the time it was the same. “Shakhtar? Ukraine? Who cares? Which players play? Nobody knows them”.
‘I can assure you it was one of the best teams in terms of playing football. They had five or six Brazilians. Always it was so tough for me.
‘For Barcelona and Bayern Munich, we have a good result but it was so tough.
‘They beat one of the best teams in Napoli (in the first group game earlier this month). Napoli are one of the three or four or five best teams, playing football. they are leading the Italian league, and they (Shakhtar) beat them. That group is tricky.
‘People say, “Napoli ? It’s not Milan or Juventus. Shakhtar? It’s Ukraine” The group is tricky. We’ll be next two games at home and we can take a big step towards the knockout round in February.
‘But the players know it is September. The last years always Manchester City start well and after were not able to achieve the results. We go game by game.’
The City boss feels they are an underrated side and proved how good they were against Napoli
Guardiola believes Napoli are one of the best teams in the world and Shakhtar beat them 2-1
City will give a late fitness test to Benjamin Mendy who limped out of Saturday’ s win over Crystal Palace, but will be without Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan even though both players have returned to training.
Sergio Aguero will have another opportunity to equal Eric Brook’s all-time scoring record for City after moving to within one goal of his target with a late header against Palace.
‘I never say I make a better Sergio than the others,’ added Guardiola. ‘I hope as soon as possible he can make that record. It helps a lot that Raheem Sterling gets two more goals. We are able to score more goals with more people. Then he is more free to score more goals. Sergio is in no doubt one of the best strikers in the world.
The Spanish manager also heaped praise on formidable duo Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus
‘Maybe now we play more with him. We are looking not just in the finishing. Before maybe Sergio just scores a goal. The last goal he scores against Crystal Palace, that is what we want. His first metres are so quick and he is so powerful in the legs, and I am so happy he is doing that.’
Gabriel Jesus could return to the line-up after spending Saturday’s game on the bench. ‘Gabriel is another option,’ said Guardiola. ‘I have five strikers I trust a lot.
‘There is no doubt about his capacity, his impact when he arrived. He helped us a lot, he helped Sergio to score goals in his pressing and his dynamic. The quality to score goals. We have that and the most important thing is his age. He is so young, just 21 and the No. 9 for Brazil. He fights every day and has the desire to become a real good player in world football.’