Pep Guardiola has joked he will speak to Puma after Facundo Pellistri made a brutal dig about Manchester City’s kits.
The highly anticipated Manchester derby takes place this weekend, as Erik ten Hag looks to make it three wins in a row in the Premier League.
In the lead-up to the heavyweight clash, United winger Pellistri angered rival supporters when he claimed that he never sees any sky blue shirts in Manchester.
Speaking on a Uruguayan radio station, Carve Deportiva, the Uruguayan said: “I don’t go out much but obviously here in Manchester when I go out and I see things, it’s all United, you barely see any City”
‘The two teams are in the same city but it’s all United. Now obviously even more United shirts are appearing because it’s close to the derby and they all want to show [their colours] but it’s quite calm. As I said, it’s all United.
‘You don’t see City shirts or flags. Sometimes, with my girlfriend or my family, we go out and say, “Let’s try to find one,” and we don’t see them.
‘City fill their stadium, they have a lot of fans, but we are in the same city and all you can see in the city are the shirts of United.’
City boss Guardiola gave Pellistri’s comments short shrift when they were put to him at his pre-match press conference on Friday, jokingly suggesting he would get in touch with the club’s shirt manufacturers Puma.
Asked about Pellistri’s comments, Guardiola replied: “I think it is very strange for an individual to go around the city center looking for another team’s jersey. Very strange, right?”
‘I will speak with the Puma department and see what happened, why we don’t have shirts.
‘It’s okay. If this guy and his girlfriend believe that, it’s fine.’
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When the journalist switched gears to ask a ‘more serious question’, Guardiola quipped with a big grin on his face: ‘Are you saying it’s not serious what Pellistri said?’
Asked about the nature of the rivalry between the two clubs, the Spaniard continued: ‘It’s a good rivalry. I think there’s respect for each club, so no big issues happen in my eight seasons here.
‘Nothing big issues happen. We won games, we lost games and of course the FA Cup final was special because they wanted to win and avoid us winning the treble.
‘And for us of course it was so important to arrive to Istanbul to have the challenge to do what we have done.’
