Pep Guardiola compares one of his Man City players to NBA great Michael Jordan after Premier League collapse

Pep Guardiola brought up Michael Jordan's spell with the Chicago Bulls as he spoke about the absence of Rodri from his Manchester City squad.

The Citizens will be hoping to record a much-needed victory over Manchester United on Sunday after a poor spell of late.

In fact, Guardiola's side fell to their seventh defeat in 10 games on Wednesday night as they were beaten 2-0 by Juventus in the Champions League.

Speaking in his pre-match press conference, a frustrated Guardiola pointed the finger at the busy football schedule for his team's struggles of late.

“It's not the training, not the doctors, not the physios, not the players, not how they eat or how they rest. It's just one problem: the schedule. This is the truth," he said.

"Without players, everything is more difficult. When we won the Treble or four in a row, we had one, two or three muscular injuries and were so stable."

One of the big absentees from City's campaign has been Rodri, who will miss the remainder of the 2024/25 season after undergoing knee surgery.

Guardiola brought up the Ballon d'Or winner in his press conference on Friday, comparing the situation to Michael Jordan, both during and after his spells at the Chicago Bulls.

“This is the problem," he added. "With Rodri, we knew it from the beginning. This season we’re playing without the Ballon d’or winner and the best player in England last season.

“Of course it’s difficult. The Chicago Bulls won six NBA's with Michael Jordan, right? Since Jordan retired, how many have they won? The moment we [the players] come back, we’ll be strong again.”

Guardiola has previously named Jordan as one of his biggest inspirations.

Speaking to TNT Sports earlier this year, the City boss said: "When he [Michael Jordan] was playing in the 90's, I would wake up at 3 or 4am at Barcelona while my wife was sleeping and I was watching the TV, because I had the feeling that I would never see it again."

Guardiola also mentioned Tiger Woods, as well as tennis greats Rafael Nadal, Roger Federer and Novak Djokovic, as competitors he would be eager to watch.

"This kind of charisma, this competitor, this level of skill all in one person to win many championships. Like Tiger Woods for example, or [Rafael] Nadal, [Roger] Federer, or [Novak] Djokovic, these athletes all have this one package," he added.

"You don't know if you'll see it again, so I don't want to miss it [sporting legends in action]. Like when Tiger [Woods] plays, I'm there; 18 holes or four days, I don't miss one shot because I don't think I'll see it again."