Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has claimed that Chelsea counterpart Antonio Conte is among the best managers in world football.
Conte has enjoyed a dream debut campaign in the Premier League so far, steering Chelsea into a seven-point lead at the top of the table and reaching the semi-finals of the FA Cup.
Chelsea will host Guardiola's City this evening looking to take another step towards the title but, while Conte has arguably exceeded expectations since his arrival in England, Guardiola believes that he was always going to fall short of what he had been tipped to achieve.
"My opinion about my colleague Conte is that he's superb. He was able to make Italy play beautiful football - Juventus too - in a culture where it's so defensive. He's an excellent manager, I learn a lot when I see his teams - Juventus, Italy and now. I like to do that because you see what they want to do. Their teams control a lot of aspects. Maybe he's the best," he told reporters.
"In my case I had to win the treble and change English football. Expectations were quite high, that's why I'm going to fall short definitely. I cannot have success this season. In Barcelona we won the three titles in a row, we played all the competitions, we played the Champions League every three days and we were able to play almost immediately. Sometimes you need more time.
"Our games against the big teams at home, we were much better than all of them. I was so proud. But we were not able to win. That's why we are not where we would like to be. Sometimes away to the big clubs we've maybe not made the best performance. In Monchengladbach for example, Celtic in Europe, Anfield, Arsenal in the first half - we've not given our best performance. Now I'd like to see what we try to do from the beginning. Be brave, show courage."
Victory for City at Stamford Bridge this evening would see them close the gap on Chelsea to eight points, but defeat would leave them 14 adrift of the Londoners.
Barney Corkhill
