Pep Guardiola, the Manchester City boss, has heaped praise on Sheffield Wednesday midfielder Barry Bannan – describing him as an ‘incredible player’.

The Scottish playmaker came out second best in Saturday's tussle with former Manchester United and England star Wayne Rooney in the 3-1 defeat to Derby County, but did not look out of place against City’s star-studded line-up in tonight’s 1-0 defeat at Hillsborough.

In fact, the 30-year-old produced a moment of magic midway through the first half when he had the audacity to nutmeg Spanish World Cup winner David Silva with an outrageous piece of skill which lit up Hillsborough.

And speaking to the media after his side had booked their place in the last eight, the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach said he had identified Bannan as the key threat when asked about the Owls’ battling performance.

“I’m not the guy to judge them, so I think my colleague (Garry Monk) can explain better but we knew about the physicality; Bannan is an incredible player with quality who made the passes for the fast players up front.

“I think they look for people faster. That’s why they didn’t play with Nuhiu but we controlled them and we didn’t concede many set pieces and the second balls were good. I think we deserved to win.”

When asked if he was concerned about City launching a bid for Bannan, Owls boss Garry Monk joked: “Not very worried at all to be honest with you. If he’s got £85 milion, we’ll take that!”