Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said that his players showed why they are champions in their 3-1 defeat at Anfield, asserting that his side’s performance is one of the ‘proudest’ of his career.
City fell to what was ultimately a convincing defeat, with Bernardo Silva’s late goal taking the shine off the scoreline for the Reds, whose early double from Fabinho and Mohamed Salah was complemented by a Sadio Mané header to put the game beyond reach.
The visitors felt hard done by, however, and could have been awarded a penalty just prior to Liverpool’s opening goal, with Guardiola left incensed by the referee’s decision not to award one for handball by Trent Alexander-Arnold.
The City boss would not be dragged into discussion on the incident in his post-match press conference, however, instead keeping the focus on what he felt was an admirable performance from his players at a notoriously difficult venue.
“Today we showed in the most difficult stadium in the world the reasons we are champions, one of the proudest performances of my career,” he said, via the Manchester Evening News.
“We tried, we can’t expect not to concede chances at Anfield. We created more than ever. I’m so proud, I like to be manager of these players.
“We had chances to score [early on], they arrive twice and have two goals, it’s not easy, but how we react is the process we have to learn.”
He also noted that the quality of the game was a terrific advert for the Premier League, and having regained his sense of humour, joked that himself and Reds manager Jürgen Klopp were owed a bottle of wine for the show their sides put on.
“Unfortunately we lost, congratulations to Jürgen and his fantastic team for the victory,” he added. “It was a good game for both sides, for the Premier League, for the billions of people who watched this game. It was good advertising.
“Maybe you have to buy Jürgen and myself a bottle of wine for that.”