Pep Guardiola responds to Manchester United star for mocking Manchester City

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has reacted cheekily to Manchester United star Facundo Pellistri's comments about the dearth of Cityzens fans in Manchester.

The comments came ahead of the Manchester derby that will take place on Sunday, October 29. Talking to Uruguayan radio station Carve Deportiva, Pellistri said (via Metro):

"I don’t go out much but obviously here in Manchester when I go out and I see things, it’s all United, you barely see any City. The two teams are in the same city but it’s all United. Now obviously even more United shirts are appearing because it’s close to the derby and they all want to show [their colours] but it’s quite calm."

"As I said, it’s all United. You don’t see City shirts or flags. Sometimes, with my girlfriend or my family, we go out and say, 'Let’s try to find one,' and we don’t see them," he added.

When asked about the 21-year-old winger's comments in his pre-match press conference, Guardiola said:

"I will speak with the Puma department and see what happened, why we don’t have shirts. It’s okay. If this guy and his girlfriend believe that, it’s fine."

When the journalist then wished to move to a more 'serious' question, the Manchester City boss replied with a smile on his face:

"Are you saying it’s not serious what Pellistri said?"

Entering this fixture, Manchester United are placed eighth with 15 points, six places, and points behind their local rivals. Erik ten Hag's men recorded back-to-back league wins against Brentford (2-1, on October 7) and Sheffield United (2-1, on October 22) in their last two fixtures.

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Real Madrid preparing €100 million offer for Manchester City star- Reports

Julian Alvarez (via Getty Images)

La Liga giants Real Madrid are reportedly willing to offer €100 million for the services of Manchester City attacker Julian Alvarez. However, Sport said that the club will face competition from arch-Spanish rivals Barcelona, who have already held talks with the 23-year-old.

Currently, Alvarez is enjoying plenty of game time under Pep Guardiola at the Etihad. He's started every single Premier League clash, bagging four goals and assists each in the process. From his three Champions League matches, he's scored three goals and assisted once.

Despite his role at Manchester City, the aforementioned report claims that the World Cup winner isn't ruling out a move away from the Premier League champions. It remains to be seen if either Spanish side pursue their interests in the Argentina international.