Guardiola: I have a lot of respect for Wenger

Posted Tuesday, February 18, 2014 by Goal.com

The former Barcelona coach, who clashed with Jose Mourinho during his time at Real Madrid, has declared his admiration for the Arsenal boss following comments from the Chelsea boss

Bayern Munich coach Pep Guardiola has declared his respect for Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger as he prepares his side to face the Gunners at the Emirates Stadium.

Wenger was recently described as a "specialist in failure" by Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho, but the Gunners are still in contention for the Premier League title and secured a place in the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 2-1 victory over Liverpool on Sunday.

And Guardiola was full of praise for the Arsenal boss ahead of their Champions League clash on Wednesday night.

"My opinion on Arsene is that I have a lot of respect [for him]," Guardiola told reporters. "His teams have his quality and I have to admire the quality of my opponents.

"We are going to play one team that has all the season been up [leading the league], so now they are third or second in the league, but in the beginning [they were] there.

"It is a typical team that always puts in a good performance in the Champions League.

"The last eight, nine or 10 years they have been in the Champions League and they are a special team with [Santi] Cazorla, [Mesut] Ozil, [Jack] Wilshere, [Alex] Oxlade-Chamberlain, [Aaron] Ramsey.

"They always have good midfield players, with combinations. You [we] have to be good in both sides in our defensive movements and try to understand their game."

Bayern are also in good form and have won their last nine matches in all competitions, scoring 28 goals in the process.