Manchester City vs. Celtic: Pep Guardiola's Key Pre-Match Presser Quotes

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has branded a report that he phoned Arsenal star Alexis Sanchez in a bid to recruit him as a lie during his pre-match press conference ahead of Tuesday's Champions League clash with Celtic.

Chilean outlet El Mercurio (h/t the Mirror's Jack Rathborn) had reported Guardiola had called his former charge to try to convince him to join City, but per the club's official Twitter feed, he denied the rumour:

Guardiola recruited Sanchez from Udinese ahead of his final season at Barcelona, and the pair won the Copa del Rey together in 2012.

He netted an impressive hat-trick against West Ham United in the Premier League on Saturday to take his league tally to 11 goals.

The Sky Blues manager also backed rivals Manchester United to be in contention for a Champions League place at the end of the season, if not challenge for the title, per BBC Sport's Simon Stone and Stuart Brennan of the Manchester Evening News:

United are 13 points behind first-place Chelsea and nine behind fourth-placed City after being held to a 1-1 draw by Everton on Sunday.

The Red Devils have won just one of their last eight league games but have recently thrashed Feyenoord and West Ham United in the Europa League and the EFL Cup, respectively.

On Saturday, City slipped to a 3-1 defeat against Chelsea having taken the lead, but Guardiola was proud of his players' efforts.

Per City's official Twitter feed, he said: "Chelsea played good. We created an unbelievable amount of chances against one of the best teams in Europe. ... In general I am satisfied. We analyse the result, they won congratulations, but we played well. Today we do not finish our season."

Fernandinho and Sergio Aguero were sent off deep into injury time at the Etihad Stadium, and Guardiola confirmed the Sky Blues will not contest their respective three- and four-game bans: "We are going to accept the ban from the Football Association and work with other players for the games."

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Per Stone, he also admitted his players were at fault for the red cards, with Aguero receiving his marching orders for a poor challenge on David Luiz and Fernandinho for grabbing Cesc Fabregas in the melee that followed:

City are assured of second place in their Champions League group, while Celtic cannot salvage third spot and a Europa League place, so the pair are essentially playing for pride on Tuesday.

Guardiola confirmed he would be rotating his side for the clash:

Aguero might as well play given his domestic ban, particularly as he'll give City's chances of winning a significant boost even if the result is relatively unimportant.

Resting his other first-team stars is a wise move, however—there is little point in risking them when they'll be needed over the festive period, with games against Arsenal and Liverpool coming up.