Man City boss Guardiola: Barcelona and Real Madrid always start slowly | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola insists Real Madrid and Barcelona will return to their best.

The former Barcelona coach will miss Saturday's Clasico as he will be flying back to Manchester after City take on West Ham in the afternoon, coupled with LaLiga Santander's standout fixture kicking off at 16:00 local time.

"Normally at the beginning of the season the big club's struggle a little," Guardiola told the press. "They will get their own rhythm sooner or later, and both teams will be winning games in a row and will get back their normal positions that they are in every season.

"Sometimes you need a little bit of time to get everything [right], especially with Barcelona and Ronald [Koeman], being new he needs a little more time and I'm pretty sure they [Barcelona] will get things how they want."

In terms of a prediction for the Clasico, Guardiola was coy on who he things will win, instead preferring to offer a more amicable answer: "Anything can happen in a single game."