Pep Guardiola has labelled Erik ten Hag an "exceptional manager" ahead of Saturday's FA Cup final between local rivals Manchester City and Manchester United at Wembley Stadium.
Ten Hag arrived at Old Trafford last summer to succeed Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the dugout and initially endured a difficult start to his reign, suffering disappointing losses to Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford in the Premier League.
However, the Dutchman has since turned the club's fortunes around in impressive fashion, with the Red Devils successfully securing a top-three finish in the Premier League and lifting the EFL Cup in February, ending the club's six-year drought without silverware.
Ten Hag is now seeking to steer Man United to the domestic cup double for the first time in the club's history and end their campaign on a high with success in the first-ever Manchester derby showpiece event.
Man City boss Guardiola, who was in charge of Bayern Munich when Ten Hag briefly coached the club's reserve side, has heaped praise on the Dutchman and his first season as a manager in English football.
Speaking at a press conference on Friday, Guardiola said: "It's not easy the first season in the Premier League, I know myself, so that defines a really good manager.
© Reuters
"I cannot say we are friends as we are not in touch much... but I think Man United has an exceptional manager for many, many years."
Guardiola has seen a clear transformation in Man United over the last four to six months and believes that they have made notable improvements leading up to Saturday's final.
"The question is what are Manchester United doing in the last four, five, six months? It's a different team to what we faced at the beginning of the season when we beat them [6-3 last October]," said the Citizens boss.
"They were much better when we played [at Old Trafford] and lost (2-1) but I think we played good. It was a defeat but it's football.
"I had the feeling the team, from the beginning of the season to now, [United have] improved. That's the reality. Their patterns are clearer and the quality they have is United.
"We are here and we have done well against them but it's United. The quality of the players has always been here. Always they were good."
© Reuters
Guardiola has urged his Man City players to be the 'best version of ourselves' on such a special occasion and insists that the contest will not be decided on previous successes.
"A final is special for itself. It's a football game and in a final it's how you will be in that moment. Over the 90 minutes," Guardiola added.
"It's not what you have done in the past. It's about how good you are or how not good you are. It's about how you perform individually, as a team, and all the details over this 90, 95 minutes. A final is that. It's just one game. We have to be the best version of ourselves to beat them."
Guardiola continued: "It should be good for us if we think about what we need to do to win one more game. Not like a title or finishing second or third, fourth or fifth.
"To analyse the strength of the opponent and how we believe the weaknesses they have and try to do it. It's a football game, that is the most important thing. Surrounding it, outside, it's normal, we can't control it. The last two games of the season, we have to do what we have to do on the pitch to win."
Man City have been boosted by the news that Kevin De Bruyne, Jack Grealish, Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji have all returned to training after missing last weekend's defeat at Brentford due to unspecified injury and fitness issues.
Guardiola has also confirmed that goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, who has kept five clean sheets in as many FA Cup matches this term, will start between the sticks ahead of first-choice shot-stopper Ederson.
Oliver Thomas
