Mohamed Salah does not know what Pep is going on about (Picture: Getty Images)

Mohamed Salah is not on board with Pep Guardiola’s suggestion that winning the Champions League is akin to striking lucky at a casino compared to the hard slog of lifting the Premier League title.

The Manchester City manager retained the Premier League title last season, edging out the Reds by a point on the final game of the campaign.

Perhaps unsurprisingly, given that Pep has never taken City past the quarter-finals of Europe’s biggest competition, the Spaniard has insisted that the Premier League title is the superior prize to the Champions League.

However, Salah does not agree and says that the Champions League trophy is the one every player and manager wants to get their hands on.




‘Honestly, I didn’t know that he (Guardiola) said that, but I think if you give him a choice to choose which one, he would choose the Champions League,’ Salah told CNN.

Pep Guardiola and Mohamed Salah do not agree on this one (Picture: AFP/Getty Images)

‘That’s my opinion. I’m not talking about him, but my opinion. It’s the biggest competition in football, so everyone wants to win it.

‘Every coach, every player wants to win it, dreams of winning it. So of course the Premier League also is something big, but still the Champions League is the biggest competition.’

Guardiola did admit that winning the Champions League is a target for his side, but insisted that the Premier League is the ‘standout competition.’

‘Of course we have to win in Europe because it’s an important tournament and difficult to win,’ said Pep. ‘But I am not going to go to the casino and gamble everything I have in my pocket on just seven games.

‘I want to be happy for 11 months and winning the Premier League makes me happy. Why am I going to wait until February for seven games and put everything on black?

‘From my point of view, that’s too risky. To maintain the health and focus of the team, it always has to be the Premier League.

‘The Premier League is always the most important thing, the standout competition, because it is every weekend.

‘Of course we would like to win the Champions League – so big respect to Liverpool.

‘But why is that a higher (achievement) than what we did in 11 months?

‘I am pretty sure Liverpool would have liked to have won the Premier League, because it is 29 years since they last did.’

Liverpool and City will discover their Champions League group stage fates when the draw is made on Thursday 29 August.

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