Director of Football Begiristain, who played and then worked with Guardiola at Barcelona, joined City in 2012 and laid the foundations that attracted the highly sought-after coach to Manchester in 2016.
Having now been in the role for more than a decade, Guardiola believes the Spaniard’s work behind the scenes has been pivotal to the Club’s magnificent trophy haul in recent years.
Injury news ahead of Spurs v City
“If you take a look at all the clubs who have success they have the same hierarchy for a long time,” said Guardiola.
“When this happens the big clubs have success. If they change sporting director and managers it’s more difficult. Take the time with big clubs, the time and the hierarchy believes in sport director.
“They know exactly what they have to do and Txiki has been massive and was before I arrived. Staple of the club he’s been important in the years. Part of the success we have in results and he has been so important.
“I respect him a lot. He’s more calm and I’m more energetic and this balance is perfect.”
Watch the embargoed section of the press conference above...
SPURS V CITY APP COVERAGE
The official Manchester City app allows you to follow all of the action all from your fingertips.
Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, with our Matchday Live show set to being around 19:00 (UK).
Special guests Brian Barry-Murphy and Michael Brown will be in the studio with host Natalie Pike to offer City-centric analysis before, during and after the match.
They will also answer viewer questions throughout the broadcast with audience participation actively encouraged on Matchday Live. To get in touch, send a WhatsApp to: +447537186538.
During the game you can listen to our live audio commentary offering with Alistair Mann and Andy Morrison on hand to guide you through proceedings while our text commentary continues.
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Make sure you have push notifications turned on too so you can be alerted to all the key moments during the match, including goal, red cards and team news.
Highlights from the match will be available from midday on Saturday 27 January as well as a full-match replay, via CITY+, accessible from midnight following the game’s completion.
