The boss was responding to the question of whether Xabi Alonso’s teams player similar brand of football to Guardiola’s.
But the Catalan says it is futile making any comparisons as no two teams will ever be the same because of the manager, players and tactics are always different.
“[Xabi’s] teams are impressive, but my teams can’t be compared to anyone,” said Pep.
“Every team is different. Players, clubs are different. We are just adapting. If we compare with NBA, there are 80 games there and it’s a process.
“You move from being the best to the worst, we want the team to grow.
“The teams that win are the ones that grow throughout the season. During that process it’s a rollercoaster and it’s impossible to always be at your top level.
“Since I started coaching, I only want the team to be better in November than October and so on.
“I know the rival we’re going to face tomorrow. After the game v Sunderland, I know what we’ve done well and not so well.
“To beat Real Madrid, you have to be much better, not just better.
“We know we missed an opportunity with the last game v Leverkusen, but you never know where you will get points.
“We want to keep growing and be at the maximum level in March and if Real Madrid is there, we will meet again. This happens every season.”
Real Madrid v city app coverage
Our Official Man City app allows you to follow all of the action in one place.
Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin at around 18:45 (UK).
Natalie Pike will be joined by Michael Brown and Steph Houghton in the studio as they offer their expert insight before, during and after the action.
During the game you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Steve Howey, while our text commentary continues.
Make sure to have push notifications turned on, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.
We’ll have a quick-hit 2-minute highlights package available from Midnight (UK) on Wednesday which is available globally from 19:00 (UK) on Thursday.
On CITY+ meanwhile, from Midnight (UK) on Wednesday and 19:00 (UK) Thursday there’ll be our popular full-match replay as well as our new extended highlights offering which features the best 20 minutes of action from the game.
