Carlo Ancelotti has given Pep Guardiola ’s Manchester City team the ultimate compliment – by suggesting they have a dimension to their game which his Barcelona and Bayern Munich sides lacked.
The Everton manager saw his new charges beaten 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium on New Year’s Day.
And the Italian, lauded as one of the managerial greats after taking both AC Milan and Real Madrid to Champions League triumphs as well as winning league titles with Chelsea, Paris St Germain and Bayern Munich, believes the Blues have a string to their bow which Guardiola’s previous teams did not.
Everton were picked apart by City’s slick passing and movement for Gabriel Jesus ’ first goal, and were then under constant threat from City’s counter-attacks, driven by Kevin De Bruyne and Riyad Mahrez.
Asked afterwards what the difference is between this City team and Guardiola’s other two great sides, Ancelotti picked on this aspect.
Guardiola has tweaked his own ideas of the game since coming to England - he always insisted that his decision to come here was about him learning from the English game rather than the other way around.
And he has developed City into a team that has a similar pass-and-move mantra to Barca and Bayern, but which is not afraid to go long to stretch teams.
Ancelotti feels that is the basic difference between City and Guardiola’s other sides.
When asked about it, he said: “This is a team that can play, when they have the possibility to play, more direct compared to Bayern and Barcelona.
“They have players that can play direct - De Bruyne, Mahrez - if they find the possibility they are able to do counter-attack also.”
