Breaking News: Four years after Man City met, Pep Guardiola’s prediction about Ange Postecoglou is fulfilled at Tottenham.

Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, has been discussing his prior encounters with Ange Postecoglou in advance of Sunday’s matchup at the Etihad Stadium against Tottenham Hotspur.

Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, was aware of Ange Postecoglou’s superior managerial abilities four years prior to his arrival at Tottenham Hotspur and his immediate impact on the Premier League.

The 58-year-old manager of Tottenham began his career as a coach in Australia, where he spent 21 years before taking over as manager of Yokohama F. Marinos in December 2017.

Less than 18 months later, at a friendly match between the Marinos and Manchester City at the 65,000-seat Nissan Stadium in Yokohama, Guardiola and Postecoglou finally met.

Kevin De Bruyne’s goal gave the Premier League’s biggest clubs an early lead, but Keita Endo’s goal five minutes later tied the score, frustrating their superior opponents who faced a tougher match than expected.

Ahead of Sunday’s match between City and Spurs at the Etihad, Guardiola made reference to the game and said he has definitely not forgotten how tough Postecoglou’s team made it for him back in Japan. Raheem Sterling and Lukas Nmecha ultimately managed to lead City to a 3-1 victory.

The City manager stated in his program notes, “We know Ange Postecoglou well from his time with our friends in Yokohama – the team he built there was exceptional.” “We had a game against them in 2019, and boy, was that ever a game. After that night in Japan, I was convinced he was a top manager. It will be enjoyable to see him once more.”

In 2019, Postecoglou became the first Australian manager to win a league title in Japan, and he also gave Yokohama their first J.League title in 15 years. After that, he moved to Celtic, where he won 83 of 113 games over the course of a two-year stay. During that time, he also won five trophies, including four Scottish Premierships and two Scottish League Cups.

This summer, Spurs manager Postecoglou accepted an offer from the Premier League and quickly won over fans with Spurs’ stellar start to the season—ten games without a loss.

Postecoglou became the first manager to achieve this achievement when he was named the Premier League’s manager of the month for the months of August, September, and October. In retrospect, it’s evident that Guardiola was well-informed when he asserted in 2019 how excellent a manager Postecoglou was.