Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has declared that he ‘doesn’t care’ if his side don’t win the Premier League title following Saturday’s loss to Manchester United.
City suffered a second successive defeat as United controversially moved within one point of the reigning Premier League champions in the table.
Arsenal could move eight points clear of the Sky Blues if they beat Spurs on Sunday, as City’s hopes of a hat-trick of Premier League titles suffered a significant blow at Old Trafford.
Jack Grealish gave City the lead with a header, however late goals from Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford completed a 2-1 comeback victory for the home side, as City dropped points once again.
Controversy surrounds United’s equalising goal, as match referee Stuart Attwell deemed that Marcus Rashford hadn’t interfered with play in the build-up to Fernandes’ strike.
Reacting to the defeat post-match, Pep Guardiola seemingly conceded City’s chances of winning the Premier League title for a fifth time under his management.
“I don’t care if the Premier League and Carabao Cup we cannot win, we have won a lot. It’s not a problem,” said the Catalan.
“Problem is behaviour, perform like we have done. Carabao Cup is out, it doesn’t matter, we didn’t perform how we are. Today we perform. Now, don’t be distracted what happened today in the first goal, Focus on Spurs in a few days.”
The Blues crashed out of the Carabao Cup after a shock 2-0 loss to Southampton in midweek, and face a challenging fixture against Spurs at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday.
Guardiola fumes after VAR controversy sparks Man Utd win
Pep Guardiola was left fuming by the controversial VAR decision to allow a Bruno Fernandes goal that sparked Manchester United’s thrilling fightback in their 2-1 win over Manchester City on Saturday.
City were leading through Jack Grealish’s second-half header at Old Trafford when United snatched their dubious 78th-minute equaliser.
Marcus Rashford was clearly offside when he ran onto a through ball but Fernandes ran past him to fire home.
Although the goal was initially disallowed, it was eventually allowed to stand after a VAR check because Rashford didn’t touch the ball before Fernandes scored.
With Guardiola and his players furious that VAR ignored Rashford’s presence as a clear distraction to keeper Ederson, United took advantage of the champions’ loss of focus to grab a late winner through Rashford’s close-range finish.
“Marcus Rashford is offside, Bruno Fernandes is not. Rashford distracted our keeper and centre defenders,” Guardiola said.
“It is what it is. We know where we play. It is difficult for the referees in these stadiums.”
Even United manager Erik ten Hag conceded he could understand Guardiola’s frustration with such a debatable decision.
“I can see that from the other side as well – of course it’s a confusing moment but when you follow the rules he didn’t touch the ball, he was not interfering and it’s a goal,” Ten Hag said.
Third-placed United are now just one point behind City after extending their winning streak to nine games in all competitions.
“We were happy at half-time but after half-time it changed, we were not proactive any more and just before I wanted to change it, they score,” he said.
“But then the spirit in the team is so huge, the belief is there that this game is 90 minutes, and we can fight back, and they believed they could turn it around.”
Second-placed City could be eight points behind leaders Arsenal if the Gunners win at Tottenham on Sunday.
With spluttering City losing their momentum in the title race, Guardiola added: “It was a fantastic game. We were close and we have to improve when we concede the goal, be more stable, the gap between the first and second goal is too close.
“In general I have no regrets. I don’t care if we don’t win the Carabao Cup or the Premier League, we’ll try. I don’t care when a team performs how we play. It was quite similar to the many, many years we’ve been here.”
Source: cityxtra.co.uk; rfi.fr
