Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has scoffed at criticism of Arsenal defender David Luiz.

City meet Arsenal on Saturday in the FA Cup semifinals.

And Guardiola has heaped praise on Luiz and pointed the finger at his TV critics.

"I have an incredible respect for him and for what he has done in his career," said Guardiola.

"He is an exceptional player and has an incredible mentality and especially personality.

"I laugh out loud when I hear the pundits. A lot of them were defenders and they believe they didn't make one mistake in their career even though they played for 15 or 20 years.

"I like that Luiz still plays football and I'm pretty sure he's going to make a lot of good actions, some more mistakes as that's part of the game. But he does it with dignity. I've a lot of respect for him."