Pundit Frank Leboeuf has shared his reaction to recent comments made by Newcastle United midfielder, Bruno Guimaraes, about Manchester City.
Earlier this week, the Brazilian admitted that the Citizens are a step above any other side in England and that he hates playing against them, comparing it to being like children trying to play against professionals.
This has since led to one pundit weighing in on what the Newcastle player had to say about Pep Guardiola’s side.
Leboeuf reacts to Guimaraes’ comments
Speaking in a recent video on the ESPN FC YouTube channel, Leboeuf had this to say when asked what he felt about these comments from Guimaraes.
He said: “I think it’s a bit big, I think the comparison is too big for me, but that’s the reality for some teams and you can see the statistic of Newcastle playing against Man City throughout all the seasons and sometimes it’s 5-0 or even more, so it’s complicated to play against City, it’s a machine, it’s absolutely fantastic and Newcastle is coming there but it’s still far away, and we are talking about a team that finished in the top four in the Premier League.
“Nobody can deal with Manchester City right now when they are at the top and it’s been shown in the semi-final of the champions League against Real Madrid that if they play at the top, they’re going to destroy everybody, Newcastle, Chelsea, whoever it can be, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, they are unbeatable if they play at their maximum.
“So I understand what he means, it’s a nice tribute to the club. [Does it need] to be said? I don’t know but I’m sure that Guimaraes, when he plays against City next season he’s going to show that he’s capable of saying the wrong stuff months ago and beat Manchester City. But that’s the reality of many clubs playing against Manchester City right now.”
The previous Premier League campaign saw the Citizens end the season with the highest average of possession (64.7%) in the division, as well as having the highest passing accuracy percentage (87.3%).
So with City clearly being very comfortable on the ball and being able to move it around the pitch consistently, it’s easy to see why Guimaraes considers them to be very tough to play against.
Having won the treble last season, this not only backs up what Leboeuf said about City being unbeatable in certain moments, it also shows that Guardiola’s side are now the team to beat, not just in the Premier League but in Europe as well.
Moving forward, if the Manchester club want to regain their titles next season, they’ll have to make sure they make it just as difficult for their opponents to play against them as Guimaraes said it was.
