Carlos Carvalhal has described Pep Guardiola as a manager from the gods and says he will be proud to provide a guard of honour for Premier League champions Manchester City on Sunday.
City will play their first game since securing the title without kicking a ball last Sunday and there is certain to be a celebratory atmosphere at the Etihad Stadium.
Carvalhal believes his relegation-threatened team can spoil the party but believes there is no dispute over their hosts’ No.1 status.
“Congratulations to Manchester City, Pep Guardiola and all the players,” he said.
“They deserve to be champions, they are the best team in the competition. We are proud to do the guard of honour for them. They play fantastic football.”
Having won titles in Spain and Germany with Barcelona and Bayern Munich, Guardiola has now repeated the trick in England, and Carvalhal thinks his City counterpart’s achievements will live long in the memory.
“I am very happy and I think a lot of people from the tribe of football are happy to live these kinds of moments,” he said.
“A moment when you have managers like (Jose) Mourinho, Pep Guardiola, players like (Cristiano) Ronaldo and (Lionel) Messi – this belongs to the Gods of football.
“I am very happy to be part of this football nowadays, because not all the generations have two great managers and two great players.
“Pep is a fantastic manager and he will be remembered forever.
“People said his type of football would only work in Barcelona and he has proved the opposite. Good football can win in different places.”
Carvalhal has also been impressed by Man City’s players and thinks their understanding of the game is second to none.
“It is like when you have a doctor that is very good and specialised in something,” he said.
“That is so good in that area that sometimes he forgets the global and is not good in general medicine.
“Some footballers are like that, they are very good in some positions, very high quality in that position.
“Some players are more than this, they understand the position, but they understand football in general.
“That is why it is very tough to play against them (Man City), because they are a mix of a manager with a very good idea and players who understand football.”
Loan signing Renato Sanches returned to Swansea this week after having treatment at parent club Bayern Munich on a hamstring injury which has sidelined the 20-year-old since the end of January.
But Sanches will not be available for Sunday and Carvalhal has told his fellow countryman to forget about making the World Cup in Russia this summer.
“I don’t think he has any chance to go to the World Cup,” Carvalhal said.
“I told him to put the speculation down. Portugal have a lot of good players, and he is part of this group, but even if he plays well now in the last five games it will be very difficult for him.
“And he can’t play these games because his physical condition is very poor.
“He was disappointed to hear that, but this is football and he was injured.
“Renato is frustrated but we must live with the reality, and that is for him to try and help the team if it needs him and make himself better for the future.
“He must be 100 per cent because if he is training with adrenaline and expectations that he can go to the World Cup, then the problem of injury again is very high.
“This is my feeling and I have put the expectation down on him so he can recover and be fit again.”
Sanches arrived at Swansea in August with a huge reputation after starring for Portugal at Euro 2016.
He was named best young player at a tournament which Portugal won, and had joined Bayern from Benfica for 35million euros earlier that summer.
But Sanches’ Swansea switch has turned into something of a nightmare, with no goals or assists in his 15 appearances and his spell punctuated by injuries.
“He is training with the physio and doing conditioning work,” Carvalhal said.
“He needs a minimum of one week before he trains with the team and next week he can be involved.
“We have three weeks to finish the season, so we hope to recover him in the final week.
“You never know if we will need him in the final week of the season, but all we can say is that expectations are very low in this moment.”
