Pep Guardiola labels Antonio Conte as the best coach in the world

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola claims his Chelsea counterpart Antonio Conte is the best coach in the world and he has much to learn from him.

The Italian is on course to deliver the Premier League title in his first season at Stamford Bridge with the Blues seven points clear at the top of the table.

Speaking ahead of the game between the two sides on Wednesday, Guardiola said he admires the way Conte has put together teams at Juventus, the Italy national team and Chelsea.

The Spaniard said: "My opinion about my colleague Conte is that he's superb, maybe he's the best.

"How he was able to make Italy play beautiful football, Juventus too, in a culture where it's so defensive.

"He's an excellent manager. I learn a lot when I see his teams - Juventus, Italy and now. Their teams control a lot of aspects. It's a good lesson for me to see his teams and learn."

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Guardiola arrived at City last summer with a reputation as one of the best managers after his success at Barcelona and Bayern Munich, where he won a combined 21 trophies.

City are fourth in the table and are out of the Champions League but are in the semi-finals of the FA Cup.

And Guardiola admits he has not lived up to expectations in his first season in English football.

He said: "In my case I had to win the treble and change English football. Expectations were quite high, that's why I'm going to fall short. Definitely, I cannot have success this season.

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"I knew from the beginning they'd have a good season. They started the season so-so but after that they settled the way they want to play and the fact they have a week to work on many things helps a lot. It's a big advantage if you have time.

"I think a lot of games we've played a lot of good football - I didn't expect that high level - but then also we were not solid."

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