Outgoing Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed the message sent to him by Manchester United legend Sir Alex Ferguson.
Earlier on Friday, Guardiola officially announced as expected that his illustrious spell as City manager will come to an end this summer after a decade at the helm and 20 major trophies won.
Ahead of his final game in charge at the Etihad Stadium on Sunday against Aston Villa, Guardiola shared how the biggest name in United’s history had reached out to him.
Guardiola said: “I know I had incredible success as a manager and it’s nice to be there. One of the biggest compliments I had was I got a message from Sir Alex Ferguson yesterday and that made me so happy.”
Pressed on what Ferguson had said to him, Guardiola replied: “He congratulated me for the trajectory and for what we achieved. It means a lot to me.”
While Ferguson and Guardiola did not share a touchline during any Manchester derbies, the pair twice met in Champions League finals, with Guardiola’s Barcelona side beating Ferguson’s United on both occasions - in Rome in 2009 and again at Wembley two years later.
Guardiola drew a comparison between Ferguson and his Barcelona idol, Johan Cruyff. While he was saddened that Cruyff did not live to see his accomplishments at City, Guardiola was “happy” that Ferguson was a witness.
“It’s not to be humble but he is the greatest in this country,” Guardiola continued.
“I’m so happy. I miss Johan Cruyff a lot, I’m happy that Sir Alex, the greatest, could see.
“I’m pretty sure that Sir Alex will not call us the noisy neighbours again. We are the neighbours, and I’m so happy that he was there to watch us.”
It turns out that Ferguson had left a voicemail for Guardiola, a message the Spaniard jokingly said was difficult to decipher.
“Well, with his Scottish accent I struggle,” Guardiola teased. “It was a voicemail. I will call him back for sure.”
