Erik ten Hag will be the Manchester United manager for many years, Pep Guardiola has predicted.
Guardiola takes his Manchester City side to face United in the first ever all-Manchester FA Cup final on Saturday, with the chance to keep their treble hopes alive on the line as well as the second domestic trophy of the season. United finished third in the Premier League and have won the Carabao Cup, so they are fighting to make it a domestic double as well as deny City the treble.
While there is plenty at stake for both sides, Guardiola took time to praise Ten Hag's impressive work at United in his debut season, predicting that he will be in the dugout at Old Trafford for years to come.
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"I identify a manager by how they are improving, just to see when he arrives and now," Guardiola said. "To see the team getting better and better, that is not easy in the first season.
"I identify a really good manager, a part of that is a guy who represents our profession in the best way possible on the pitch and off the pitch. I cannot say we are friends, we are not in touch much. We had a short experience in Munich [when Ten Hag was a coach] but I think honestly United has an exceptional manager for many years."
Expanding on United's improvement, Guardiola also praised midfielder Casemiro for his impact at Old Trafford since his summer transfer from Real Madrid in a deal worth up to £70m.
"I don’t know him but I have info when he was in Madrid, how professional he was, the quality he has," Guardiola explained. "I was convinced he wasn’t coming here just for holidays or the last years of his career.
"When you’ve won four or five Champions Leagues with Real Madrid it’s because you are special player. Otherwise you cannot be there for a long time.
"A final is special but what Manchester [United] are doing in last four five months, they are a completely different team to the one we played in the beginning of the season when we beat them here (6-3 at the Etihad).. They were much better when we played there (at Old Trafford) and lost, we played good but it's football.
"Now I have the feeling that they’ve improved since the beginning of the season. That is the reality. The patterns are more clear, the quality they have. It's United. The many years we're here we've done really well against them but it’s United, the quality of the players has always been there with Mourinho and other managers, always they were good."
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