Pep Guardiola wary of ‘Fergie time’ fright after Ronaldo's late Champions League heroics

Manchester United’s Cristiano Ronaldo celebrates scoring against Atalanta in the Champions League. Picture: Naomi Baker/Getty Images

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is factoring ‘Fergie Time’ into his planning as he prepares for Saturday's derby at Old Trafford.

City’s arch-rivals United host the champions in the Premier League fresh from snatching a stoppage-time equaliser at Atalanta in midweek.

Not for the first time this season, Cristiano Ronaldo was their hero at the death having also grabbed a last-gasp winner against Villarreal in September.

It evoked memories of the never-say-die attitude evident at the club throughout the Alex Ferguson era.

Assessing the threat posed by Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s United, Guardiola said: “I’m pretty sure they are going to press man-to-man up front and defend deeper.

“In terms of build-up, I’m sure they’ll try to make a good one — sometimes with two false nines, sometimes more direct. I’m pretty sure they’ll attack the channels and use Bruno Fernandes to ignite something.

“They will try to make the movements in behind in the final third with crosses to Cristiano. They could play (Edinson) Cavani, (Marcus) Rashford or other ones.

“(We have to) be ready in the last minutes of the first half and the second half. I’m pretty sure they will call Sir Alex Ferguson to install the ‘Fergie Time’, because I think it’s going to happen.”

Solskjaer came under heavy pressure after his side were thrashed 5-0 by Liverpool a fortnight ago.

Last week’s victory over Tottenham took some of the heat off the Norwegian but another big loss at the hands of City would put him back under the microscope.

Guardiola, however, has warned that a repeat of the Liverpool result is highly unlikely.

He said: “We have not the quality to play like Liverpool play, so we play a different way. Football is not ‘copy paste’.

“United, after this defeat, changed the set-up against Tottenham and it worked, and they changed the set-up against Atalanta.

“If you want to do it like Liverpool, you want Jurgen Klopp, (Sadio) Mane and (Mohamed) Salah to come. We cannot play like Liverpool play because we have different players.

“And maybe right now if United played Liverpool they would play in a different way and it would not be the result they did at Old Trafford because everyone learns from it.

“We are going to try and do our game as a team. We have different qualities in a different way.”

Guardiola claims he cannot afford to get caught up in the hype surrounding the Manchester derby. The City manager has attempted to play down the significance of the game in the build-up.

The Spaniard said: “I don’t feel it because when I wake up in the morning and come here, in this bubble, this training centre, I’m here for 10, 12, 14 hours and then have to go home.

“I’m not going to the restaurants or the pubs to drink a beer and know the atmosphere.

“I can imagine how important it is for both sides — this emotion is nice, to try to win the derby and do well — but I have to be cold in my mind, I have to be cold in my head, to know exactly what we have to do to do our best.”

Guardiola raised some eyebrows ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League clash against Club Brugge by saying the game against the Belgian side was more important than the derby.

He qualified this by saying it was because the Brugge game was the next one, and therefore the most pressing, but he remains keen to downplay the significance of the United fixture.

“We try to make every game important,” said Guardiola at his pre-match press conference. “Of course derbies are special for the city, for many sentimental issues, but in the end, it is not a final or a semi-final. It is one more game.”

Despite City having enjoyed greater overall success than United in recent years, it is the red side of Manchester that has had the edge in derbies over the last two seasons.

United have won three of the last four Premier League meetings between the clubs with the other being a goalless draw.

Guardiola said: “Congratulations to United for winning these duels against us, or some of them.

“They have a lot of physicality, a lot of talent and people up front with the ability to win games by themselves.

“It’s Man United — what should I say? Since the last century they have always been a good team with the quality.

“But it is a new season, new games.”