Pellegrini warns Guardiola of Premier League pitfalls

Outgoing Manchester City manager Manuel Pellegrini warned his replacement Pep Guardiola not to expect a dream debut in the Premier League next season.

Guardiola will depart his Bayern Munich post at the end of the season to take the reins at City with the objective of transforming the club into a European powerhouse.

Pellegrini exits having won a Premier League title, an FA Cup and a League Cup, as well as taking City to their first Champions League semi-final this season, where they were eliminated by Real Madrid.

But the Chilean insisted nothing comes easily in England ahead of his final match in charge of City at Swansea City on Sunday and said Guardiola is in for the biggest test of his career.

“Of course it’s a new challenge if it’s your first time in the Premier League,” said Pellegrini.

“I’m not just talking about Guardiola, I’m also talking about myself, in the first year I arrived here.

“But when you’ve worked in Europe for so many years as a manager, you’re prepared to win that challenge.

“I’m sure that, being in a difficult league, Guardiola will be prepared to do well in it.”

Pellegrini recalled his own experience of preparing for life with City in the Premier League and said he had no doubts that despite the size of the challenge, Guardiola would be prepared.

But Pellegrini said the demands of playing across three competitions was intensified in England as opposed to other countries due to the competitive nature of every game.

“The reasons that we couldn’t get near the winners was firstly because Leicester were the best team and played very well, and secondly because we played a lot more games,” said Pellegrini.

“A third reason is that we continued in the Champions League to the semi-final and had a disadvantage against Manchester United, Arsenal and Tottenham.

“That makes it more difficult to reach the first four places and that’s why it will be more difficult in years to come to reach the top four.”