Pep Guardiola has singled out the ‘exceptional’ Bruno Guimaraes ahead of Manchester City’s FA Cup showdown against Newcastle United.
Chasing a second consecutive treble, City welcome Eddie Howe’s side to the Etihad on Saturday evening with a place in the last four of the competition on the line.
Newcastle hope to upset those plans as they seek to win their first major trophy since 1955. Guimaraes will be key to those plans having enjoyed another fine season on Tyneside, one of the few players at Newcastle to have gone the whole season injury-free, missing just one match through suspension.
The Brazil international joined the Magpies from Lyon in a £40million deal in January 2022 and has attracted interest from a number of clubs across Europe, with City among those sides credited with interest in his services.
Ahead of the Saturday evening kick-off, Guardiola spoke of the midfielder in glowing terms.
‘He is an exceptional holding midfielder,’ Guardiola said at a press conference on Friday. ‘He is aggressive, with the ball or without the ball.
‘At set pieces, he’s aggressive and is a real, complete holding midfielder since being at Lyon and now at a club who want to grow up and up.
‘I’m sure he’s part of the project for the next years. Definitely.’
City meanwhile will continue the defence of their Champions League crown against Real Madrid after being drawn with Los Blancos on Friday.
The sides have met at the semi-final stage in the last season seasons with Real coming out on top in 2022. City got their revenge last year with a 5-1 aggregate win having thrashed the Spaniards 4-0 at home.
‘It looks like a little bit of a tradition, three years in a row playing the kings of the competition,’ Guardiola said.
‘Hopefully we can arrive in a good moment but there are still a few weeks before the first game in Madrid.
‘When people say draws are easy, you undermine the other opponent but it’s not necessary to say what Real Madrid are in this competition. When you play the latter stages you play against the best teams in Europe and Real Madrid are totally there.’
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