Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City's Premier League match against Chelsea on Saturday comes too early to have any bearing on the Champions League final.
City face Thomas Tuchels's side at the Etihad Stadium, live on Sky Sports, in a game which is now a dress rehearsal for European club football's showpiece in Istanbul on May 29.
Victory against Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday at the Etihad Stadium saw City reach the final for the first time in their history.
"If we played the final in one week, six days, it could be [a factor] but after tomorrow there are 21-22 days," said Guardiola.
"Many things can happen. We just have to focus.
"There is not one thought about the final because we don't have the Premier League in our hands. When we have the Premier League, then the focus will be on the Champions League."
Guardiola, whose side lost to Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals last month, is bidding to win his third Premier League title in the last four seasons.
"Always I have said the Premier League is the most important title," he added.
"Financially for the club, maybe qualifying for the Champions League is the most important but there is no doubt this is the most important.
"The Champions League is so special, it is nice, but this means so many things. We have four games to get two points, one victory, and we are going to try to get it."
"There is not one thought about the final because we don't have the Premier League in our hands. When we have the Premier League then the focus will be on the Champions League."
Guardiola, whose side has already won the Carabao Cup this season, insists his squad have positions to play for in the run-up to the Champions League final.
"People might think the guys who played against Borussia Dortmund and Borussia Monchengladbach are going to play the final. Right now, I don't know," he said.
"What I want is everyone involved in the next two to three weeks to prepare for the final."
Chelsea counterpart Thomas Tuchel described Guardiola as a "winning machine" but the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager says he is indebted to the clubs he has worked at for his silverware haul.
"We [managers] need good clubs and good players," Guardiola said.
"There are no secrets in that. I've been in three amazing clubs with incredible structures and especially incredible players.
"If I go to a team without these financial powers, these incredible players then I wouldn't be a winning machine. All I can is we are lucky to have this opportunity to do it."
mohamadouiya4
728
Beware of this legend
GGMUFOREVER♥️❤️♥️
625
Chelsea vs Manchester City will be the best final♥️♥️♥️ Hope the best team wins Good Luck For Both Teams
Christopher mwangala
467
The Best in the world
Anthony07014
432
At the begining of the season Arsenal were second on the table Arsenal fans: we are winning the Champions league with the arrival of Willian and Thomas sure EPL teams can't stand us 2 weeks later Arsenal won Manchester united Arsenal fans: we have a better coach Arteta more experience than ole 1 month later Arsenal won Chelsea 3:1 Arsenal fans: Xhaka is better than kante Lacazete is better than Werner Thomas partey after partey is better than jorginho Arteta is better than ole, lampard,Guadiola,and klopp combined Boooooooooom 2 months Top teams picked form Arsenal moved from 2nd to 10th within 4 weeks Arsenal fans: Arteta is too young to coach arsenal he is good but lacks experience Thomas party after partey went 5months without scoring Arsenal fans: partey is not good bring back our money and take your flop You see the problem is not Arsenal the problem here is that Arsenal need to change their Coach,they need to change their fans,Admins,stadium, captain,jersey,and because they are the gunners the need to change their Gun to If 10th commandments Football club change this things trust me no club in Europe can stand them
Donelosy
430
This game is more delicate for Chelsea than city because Chelsea are chasing top 4 and protecting some players. City on the other hand almost has the EPL title
Zibdlrsz
398
Pep let Chelsea have the FA SEMI FINAL because he wanted to take the QUADRUPLE pressure off the lads, meaning less games to play, less chance of injuries and to intensify the squads need to WIN THE UCL CUP! This weekend, pep should field our BEST ELEVEN! beat chelsea and WIN THE LEAGUE! This would also put pressure on Chelsea who have West ham, who will be joint 4th on points, if they win this weekend, and MCFC BEAT Chelsea, breathing down their necks! Chelsea also have to play one extra match including, a London derby, two games v Leicester, one in the EPL! and one in the FA CUP FINAL! All this before playing MCFC IN THE UCL FINAL!!! MCFC MUST BEAT Chelsea THIS WEEKEND WITH OUR BEST ELEVEN, THEREBY WINNING THE ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE AND POURING VAST AMOUNTS OF PRESSURE ON Chelsea and also giving our BEST ELEVEN PLAYERS THE CHANCE FOR PLENTY OF REST AFTER THE WEEKEND TO GET TO THE UCL FINAL,FULLY RESTED!!! With all this in mind, if Chelsea do manage to navigate their way through this extremely tough set of fixtures to WIN the UCL CUP, it will be a feat nothing less than INCREDIBLE!!! GOOD LUCK AND MAY THE BEST TEAM WIN ! C.T.I.D. 💙
lotalpru
347
Whabkey
323
am waiting for kante to put KDB and Gudo in his pocket
ArmaniK
198
No hate here, but just wondering. Thomas Tuchel has not even spend a full season in EPL and most people are already considering he is better than Pep because Chelsea beat City in FA Cup semifinals. Don't get me wrong Chelsea is great team and Tuchel has done a beautiful job. But Pep has nothing to prove in EPL anymore, he set a record of winning the league with 98 points and 100 points respectively and also broke goal record of over 100 EPL goals in one season in less than five years. Even Sir Alex Ferguson couldn't do this with all his great players in his 27 years at Manchester United. And yet people still hate on Pep for no reason. In those 27 years, Ferguson only had two UCL trophies and Pep already has those two in his CV as well. Chelsea might be inform, they might even win the UCL but Tuchel isn't on Pep's level yet. People should give the man his due respect please..
Resbknpu
12
No hate here, but just wondering. Thomas Tuchel has not even spend a full season in EPL and most people are already considering he is better than Pep because Chelsea beat City in FA Cup semifinals. Don't get me wrong Chelsea is great team and Tuchel has done a beautiful job. But Pep has nothing to prove in EPL anymore, he set a record of winning the league with 98 points and 100 points respectively and also broke goal record of over 100 EPL goals in one season in less than five years. Even Sir Alex Ferguson couldn't do this with all his great players in his 27 years at Manchester United. And yet people still hate on Pep for no reason. In those 27 years, Ferguson only had two UCL trophies and Pep already has those two in his CV as well. Chelsea might be inform, they might even win the UCL but Tuchel isn't on Pep's level yet. People should give the man his due respect please..
No one is saying he is better than him. How much money did he spent at City compared to the other teams since he arrived there? No manager has ever spent more money than him in football history. No manager. He himself admitted that he is winning because of the financial power of his team.
zibuko
8
Chelsea vs Manchester City will be the best final♥️♥️♥️ Hope the best team wins Good Luck For Both Teams
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this picture is racist, where's kante? without kante chelsea would be nowhere to be found!