Pep Guardiola sorry for derailing Manuel Pellegrini's quadruple bid before Man City appointment

Pep Guardiola insists he’s sorry if he ended Manuel Pellegrini’s own hopes of completing an unprecedented quadruple with Manchester City.

The Chilean was still on track for a clean sweep when Guardiola was announced as his successor in February 2016.

Pellegrini ended up lifting just the EFL Cup in his farewell campaign, with his final months in the job overshadowed by Guardiola’s pending arrival from Bayern Munich.

Now it is his successor who has ambitions of winning all four trophies after Sunday’s shootout victory against Chelsea in the EFL Cup.

And ahead of Pellegrini’s return to the Etihad, Guardiola insists he didn’t knowingly disrupt his predecessor’s bid to be the first one to complete the feat.

“I think the decision was consulted by all parts, I think everybody was honest,” said the Catalan of his decision to swap Bayern Munich for City. “But I don't know, only Manuel can answer (if it affected him).

“I'm sorry for what happened, but the intention was not to create a problem for him when he was here.”

City’s Wembley triumph on Sunday saw Guardiola draw level with Pellegrini’s own trophy haul in his three years at the club.

The managers share identical records of one Premier League title each and two EFL Cups.

But whereas Pellegrini’s reign petered out disappointingly – Guardiola looks capable of overseeing a period of dominance in English football.

Still, the former Barcelona and Bayern manager was quick to recognise the role played by Roberto Mancini and Pellegrini in the success he’s enjoying.

“In the last decade, they were involved with Mancini and Manuel and myself, with all the staff and all the players, we have created Manchester City,” he said. “I didn't build it. I didn't create it.

“Many incredible players and managers, everybody, did something.

“Hopefully we can leave something for the next manager to do that. That's the best we can do for other managers, leave something for the club - and, of course, I got something with what Manuel did here."

City will be without the injured John Stones, Aymeric Laporte, Fernandinho and Gabriel Jesus against West Ham.

Fernandinho and Laporte are expected to be out until after next month’s international break with groin and hamstring injuries respectively.

Guardiola accepts he has a major void to fill in the absence of Fernandinho with no natural cover for the Brazilian.

He added: "Danilo can play there, we can play (Ilkay) Gundogan, Fabian Delph, I think Oleks (Zinchenko) can play in that position, too.

“Kevin (De Bruyne) can play there. We're going to find the right decision that hopefully works.”