Pep Guardiola fears the bust-up between Sadio Mane and Leroy Sane will galvanise Bayern Munich ahead of their Champions League tie against Manchester City on Wednesday night.
Guardiola's City side head to Munich with a 3-0 lead from the quarter-final first leg. However, all the talk about the game at the Etihad has been about what happened between Bayern forwards Mane and Sane.
In the dressing room after the match, Mane struck Sane and left him with a bloodied lip as a disagreement that started on the pitch escalated into violence. The ex-Liverpool star was subsequently fined and dropped from the squad for Munich's Bundesliga clash with Hoffenheim on Saturday.
READ MORE: Full Liverpool squad available to face Leeds United as Jurgen Klopp gets double injury boost
READ MORE: Jurgen Klopp must ignore Jude Bellingham talk to address major Liverpool issue
But City boss Guardiola believes the incident may actually help his old club in their bid to overturn the three-goal deficit. The former Munich manager said: “Absolutely, sometimes you need conflict to make the team more together, I am pretty sure of that.
"It's not a weak point, it will be a strong point against us. I know this club perfectly, I can imagine the situation against City; we play there, the players will do their best. Bayern will do their best on Wednesday but I am pretty sure what happened there.
“If it was the opposite and we had lost 3-0 and didn't win today and there was some conflict, the team would say it is a final for us and we know exactly what we have to do and we will do it.”
Meanwhile, a report from Germany has claimed that Bayern have handed Mane a huge fine and are now keen to sell him this summer.
“According to our information, it is an amount that goes far beyond €300,000 (£260,000), so it's a very, very sensitive fine for Mane,” journalist Florian Plettenberg told Sky Germany.
READ NEXT:
- Stunning new drone footage of Liverpool Anfield Road Stand 'looking fantastic'
- UEFA to introduce CL change that Liverpool don't want to miss out on
- Konate tells dressing room reaction to chance and thunderous tackle on Xhaka
- Redknapp on what he 'heard' about Bellingham as drunk conversation leads to move
- Two massive things' - Konate sends Liverpool message ahead of next season
