Everton’s new manager Carlo Ancelotti has revealed how Pep Guardiola once rejected the chance to play for him as two of the greatest coaches of their generation prepare for a rare meeting on Wednesday.

Despite their decorated careers at Europe’s elite clubs, Ancelotti and Guardiola have faced each other very little, their paths diverging as they switched countries. Guardiola had left Spain when the Italian took over at Real Madrid, and Ancelotti later succeeded the Spanish coach at Munich.

So Ancelotti is protecting an unbeaten record against the Manchester City coach, two games in the Champions League between Real and Bayern their only competitive encounters.

Their first meeting was in the mid-90s when Ancelotti was at the start of his coaching career.

“I remember when I was manager of Parma, at the beginning I tried to sign him for Parma but he decided to stay in Barcelona,” said Ancelotti.

“I spoke with him and told him we needed him for our play, for our team, but in the end he decided to stay. I have a good relationship with him and always had that.

“Pep is a fantastic manager. We met not a lot in games, but I have a lot of respect for his job because he's in certain points a genius. He's always tried to do something special on the pitch.