Pep Guardiola talks up Sporting Lisbon qualities ahead of Champions League tie

Pep Guardiola has been impressed by Sporting Lisbon's development over the past few years and believes his Manchester City team will face a challenging opponent in the Champions League on Tuesday.

The Citizens, who finished top of Group A, are preparing for the first leg of their last-16 tie in Lisbon, before they lock horns with the Group C runners up at the Etihad Stadium for the second leg on March 9.

Speaking to the press ahead of their midweek clash at the Estadio Jose Alvalade, Guardiola expressed his admiration for Sporting's "togetherness" and has been impressed with their results in Europe's elite club competition this season.

"Portugal always has incredibly competitive league. We fought against Porto last season and realised how strong they are," the Spaniard said on Monday.

"[Sporting have] had an incredible recruitment of players, so competitive. After a while the biggest stars fly to Spain or England or Germany or France.

"What I saw from Sporting, togetherness, relation between manager (Ruben Amorim) and team and this is the most important thing. Physical team, incredible runners in behind.

"They were champions last season after many years, beating Porto and Benfica is because they are a good team. They won [in] the group stage against Ajax and Dortmund who are good Champions League teams. They beat them because they are good. A few games watching, I was really impressed."

Man City will be looking to reach their second successive Champions League final this term, after losing 1-0 to Premier League rivals Chelsea in Porto last season.