Pep Guardiola would rather play golf than manage Manchester United

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said that he will never take upon the responsibility of managing the iconic Manchester United. He claimed that he would prefer to go on a holiday or play golf rather than take over the coaching job at Old Trafford.

Back in 2013, soon after Sir Alex Ferguson retired, Manchester United had Guardiola on their radar. However, by then, the Spaniard had already agreed to join the German side, Bayern Munich.

Guardiola stated that his current status at Manchester City means he will never join United even if the Red Devils would have been the only option he had.

The City boss said, " After training City I will never train them; I would not train [Real] Madrid [after Barcelona]. If I didn't have any offers, I would be in the Maldives. Maybe not the Maldives because it doesn't have any golf courses but after training City, I won't train United, just like I would never train Madrid. Definitely not."

Guardiola's comments came in just before his side travels to Old Trafford for the first-leg of the Carabao Cup semi-final against United on Tuesday night. The second leg of the match will be held on January 29. City has an opportunity to win the tournament for the third consecutive season

In the other semi-final, Leicester City would take on Aston Villa on Wednesday at home.

In 2012, Guardiola met Ferguson for dinner in New York. At that time, the former Barcelona manager was on a sabbatical while Ferguson had yet to decide his retirement.

That year, United won the Premier League. Since then, the Red Devils didn't come close to winning another League title. Meanwhile, Guardiola won five titles, including two Premier Leagues with Manchester City and three Bundesliga crowns with Bayern Munich. The 48-year-old has 20 major honours to his name.

Guardiola's men are facing an enormous challenge to win their third consecutive Premier League title this season. An unbeaten Liverpool is currently 14 points ahead of the Sky Blues, with Leicester City positioned at number 2 with 45 points from 21 games. City has 44 points in the same number of matches, while the Reds have played one less game.