Pep Guardiola Hits Back at Santiago Solari over Real Madrid Comments

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has continued his spat with Real Madrid manager Santiago Solari by hitting back at his Los Blancos counterpart following an argument the pair had in January.

Guardiola named Juventus and his former clubs Barcelona and Bayern Munich as the three best teams in European football over the last 10 years, and Solari felt the absence of Real in his list was a "deliberate omission."

Goal's Sam Lee shared footage from Guardiola's press conference on Friday, in which he responded to Solari's accusation:

He also relayed Guardiola's comments, as the Catalan reiterated his reasoning for choosing Barca, Bayern and Juve ahead of Real:

"Thank you so much, but I will be nice for the Madrid supporters, who are upset with me, who are saying the best team in Europe is Real Madrid. 

"Because in the last three years they won and I think they are the best team by far in Europe in the last decade, and the best team is Real Madrid.

"But Real Madrid not the best team of the decade when you count leagues and cups and the other ones, because Juventus, Barcelona and Bayern Munich won six or seven times and they [Madrid] won two.

"I am pretty sure that Solari now understands my answer better. I am pretty sure they are happy now with me." 

Tom Allnutt of Agence France-Presse gave his take on the row between the two managers:

Real have won the UEFA Champions League in each of the last three seasons and in the 2013-14 campaign, but Guardiola evidently places more value on domestic consistency.

The three sides he named have each won seven titles in their respective leagues over the last 10 years. 

Winning the Champions League typically requires a side to beat several of Europe's best, but to win a league title a team has to perform strongly and consistently over 38 games, which is arguably a more impressive feat.

Barca, Bayern and Juve have also been more dominant when it comes to cup competitions since 2009, having won 14 between them—six for the former and four each for the latter two.

By comparison, Real have won La Liga and the Copa del Rey only twice apiece in the last decade—a club of their stature would have expected to deliver more on those fronts.