Fabio Capello and Paolo Di Canio were thoroughly unimpressed with Manchester City’s attitude ahead of the Champions League meeting with Juventus, calling Pep Guardiola and Ederson ‘arrogant.’
It kicks off at the Allianz Juventus Stadium in Turin at 20.00 GMT.
The Citizens have dominated the Premier League title race in recent years and Guardiola just signed a new contract extension, but despite huge investments, they only have one Champions League trophy to show for it.
Now they are stuttering both domestically and in Europe, prompting a stern response from the Sky Sport Italia pundit crew.
“Guardiola is a great coach, but he is far too arrogant and presumptuous,” said former England manager Capello.
“At times he has even lost trophies because he wanted to prove that he was the one winning and not the players, so he dropped key figures from the side in the big games. That was in my view an attempt to take the spotlight and the credit away from his squad.”
Capello’s colleagues on the panel agreed that Guardiola was arrogant, but also noted that at least he had the exceptional career to back it up.
Meanwhile, Di Canio is the resident expert on English football on Sky Sport Italia and was unimpressed with the return of Ederson to the starting XI following his howlers against Feyenoord in a 3-3 draw.
“Ederson has talent, but he is so arrogant that he makes these mistakes due to sheer over-confidence and trying to show off, like a back-heel flick when under pressure.”
Capello pointed out that the goalkeeper was a “disaster” and ought to be dropped until he can learn some humility.
