The recognition of his former players has been a prominent feature of our daily summary of the back pages since Guardiola arrived in Manchester.
Cameroonian striker Samuel Eto’o, who played under the Catalan at Barcelona, is the latest to come out in support of his old boss.
In the aftermath of Saturday’s defeat to Chelsea, much has been made of the impact it will have on the Premier League title race, but Eto’o remains convinced Pep will give City fans plenty to celebrate.
Now at Antalyaspor, he told Telefoot: “Pep Guardiola has everything to be a success there [at City] and, for me, he’s still the best coach in the world.
“He always wants his teams to play and he will impose this idea in England.
“His great strength is that he never changes his ideas. Technically, Pep remains the best. There’s nothing else to be said.”
As is typical in December, the games are coming thick and fast and the Blues welcome Celtic to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening.
Another striker, City legend Paul Dickov, has also been talking to journalists ahead of the final group game.
Again, it will be case of split loyalties for the 1999 play-off hero, who grew up a Celtic fan, but despite a 3-3 draw in Glasgow, Dickov expects City to have too much for the Bhoys at home.
Speaking to the Glasgow Evening Times, he said: “I think it’ll be difficult for Celtic with that advantage taken away, and because City have shown that on their day they can beat anyone. They beat Barcelona after all.
“With the squad they’ve got and the manager they’ve got, anything’s possible for them. I’ve been lucky enough to see the majority of their games this year. Recently they’ve had a couple of draws but I’ve never seen anything like some of the football they’ve played.”
Finally, one you may have missed during the reaction to Saturday’s loss.
Ex-Blues boss Stuart Pearce was on the Goals on Sunday sofa this weekend, when he revealed the advice the current manager once offered him.
Pearce explained how he turned down the chance to sign Guardiola as a player during his City tenure, but there were no hard feelings as the former England left back was later invited to observe the man in managerial action.
“I went out to Barcelona when I was working with the U21s a few years later and watched Pep training at Barcelona where he was a fantastic gentleman,” said Pearce.
“He gave me a great insight into how to be a good manager, we talked tactics. As we said goodbye and walked away he turned around and said, ‘by the way get a Messi in your side’.”
That concludes today’s paper talk. Stay tuned on mancity.com as we bring you the story from the manager’s press conference this afternoon.
