Pep Guardiola admits he is looking forward to a Manchester Derby cup final as Manchester City meet Manchester United in the FA Cup final this weekend.
The two teams will meet in a historic cup clash at Wembley on Saturday, as both teams look to crown successful seasons with further silverware.
City are chasing a treble under Guardiola and enter the final as favourites to add the FA Cup to their Premier League title, before meeting Inter Milan in the Champions League final on June 10.
United are also looking for their second silverware of the season after lifting the League Cup in February. Guardiola is relishing a ‘special’ final between the local rivals and believes United have improved across the course of Erik ten Hag’s debut season in charge.
“The final is special,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference.
“Manchester United are a different team to what we faced at the start of the season. They have improved and so has their quality.”
Guardiola discussed the need to handle the occasion and insists past achievements count for little ahead of a cup final.
“Finals are about how you play in the moment, not what you’ve done in the past, but how you do individually as a team. It’s not important to think about the past or think about many years ago, it’s one game. We have to do our best.”
Guardiola provided an update on his team and confirmed Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne are fit to feature. The Spaniard also revealed that Stefan Ortega will start in goal after featuring in the earlier rounds of the tournament.
“He is going to play,” Guardiola said on Ortega. “It has always been like that at Barcelona and in Munich; the keeper that plays in the cups is going to play [the final].”
