Fabio Capello said Manchester City are the world’s best - but their manager isn’t.
The former England chief was gushing in his praise of Pep Guardiola’s squad ahead of Tuesday night's eagerly-awaited semi-final. But when it came to the manager, there was only one winner.
He said: “This year, I think Manchester City is the best team in the world. They don’t just have an important forward - but also 24 important players - they always have fantastic players.
“ Real Madrid have maybe 14 or 15 players - and they were in the Spanish Cup final a couple of days ago. They will probably be a bit tired. But they do have the best coach in the world - Carlo Ancelotti. Carlo knows everything about their opponents and Carlo knows how to win - and I hope he does.”
The Italian spoke on Monday night ahead of the prestigious Laureus awards in Paris. He is one of the charity's ambassadors and took centre stage with former Los Blancos - and Barcelona - favourite Luis Figo.
The former superstar echoed his colleague’s comments but steered well clear of writing off Guardiola, or his team.
He said: “I think Manchester City are ready. They are now one of the best teams in the world. They’ve already been in this part of the competition. They have experience.
“They now know what they have to do but they are playing the best club in the history of the Champions League. And this is a moment when history helps.
“Everyone thinks Manchester City are the favourites but you have to consider the history - and Real Madrid is always alive until the last second of every game. It will be good to see - but Manchester City are more than ready to win this beautiful competition.”
Those feelings were also echoed by fellow Laureus ambassador Claude Makelele.
He said: “I’m still leaning towards Madrid. But Manchester City has a good chance - I think in defensive situations, they’re now the best. They are more compact defensively and they know exactly how to manage the game and Guardiola has now learnt a lot about that.
“So this is a good opportunity for them. I feel that they are having the same experience I had at Chelsea. We needed to wait nine years to win the Champions League. Manchester City is now learning how.
“But this is a normal experience for Madrid. They know exactly how to do it.”
The Laureus World Sports Awards take place on Monday evening in Paris. To find out more, and follow the ceremony, visit www.laureus.com
