The Spanish coach Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, praised his rival Newcastle United, who beat them 2-1 in the match that brought the two teams together at St. James’ Park, in the twelfth round of the English Premier League.
Harvey Barnes opened the scoring for Newcastle United in the 64th minute, then Ruben Dias equalized for City in the 68th minute, before Barnes returned and scored the second goal for him and his team in the 70th minute.
With this result, Manchester City is in third place in the English Premier League standings with 22 points, while Newcastle United is in fourteenth place with 15 points.
Following the match, Pep Guardiola told Sky Sports: “A great advertisement for the Premier League! Newcastle is a great team, with great players and a great coach, so unfortunately we couldn’t keep our momentum tonight.”
He added: “It was an enjoyable match, we had several opportunities to change things, and in the end we couldn’t win.”
He continued: “Donnarumma’s performance was exceptional, and we wasted many chances, and we were better in the second half, and we conceded a goal, after substituting the wingers, and in the end we couldn’t reach the required result.”
Regarding the teams not scoring in the first half, he confirmed: “The goalkeepers were good, and after we wasted many chances, it was an enjoyable match that witnessed many opportunities, we were closer to scoring at the beginning.”
Regarding Newcastle’s second goal, the City coach commented: “It happened in the Bournemouth match, and it happened again today, this is what happened after returning to VAR, they are fully aware of that.”
He stressed: “We did our best, we wanted to take a step forward as we did in the past two months, but after the international break, it is not always easy, but the road is still very long.”
Regarding the conversation that took place between him and referee Sam Barrott after the end of the match, he stated: “No, nothing, everything is fine, this is the situation.”
Regarding his conversation with Bruno Guimarães, the Newcastle player, he said: “I told him how good he is, I asked him what happened between him and Donnarumma, and I think everything is fine.”
Pep commented on Donnarumma’s anger after Newcastle’s second goal, and said: “It happened in front of Bournemouth, and it happened again, Donnarumma saw the scene, and felt there was a collision, but I didn’t see it, but I trust my team’s players.”
Regarding Haaland’s failure to score today, he said: “He always creates two or three chances for himself because he is the best. Let’s move on to the next question.”
He concluded: “Newcastle is always a difficult team, even when they are in the bottom positions in the league standings, and after two consecutive defeats, after they get a ten-day vacation, they become stronger.”
NEWCASTLE
Confusing questions!
For his part, defender Ruben Dias, the scorer of Manchester City’s only goal in the match, stated: “The match was difficult in all respects for both teams, it was a very strong match, and we had opportunities to score from both sides, and we did not score more, and we have to improve.”
He added: “Everyone knows how strong they are on their ground, the first match after the international matches is always difficult, and we struggled with all our might.”
He continued: “It is always a period of adaptation, we simply have to improve.”
Regarding the decisions of the Video Assistant Referee (VAR), he said: “I feel that Phil Foden’s decision in the first half was very clear, but I did not address it, of all the decisions, only the second goal scored by Newcastle is what we need to know if it is correct or not.”
The Portuguese international raised several questions, saying: “What is the wisdom of their player pushing our goalkeeper out of the goal? What do we allow, and for how long? Sometimes we allow it and sometimes we don’t, so what do we do? In the second goal, Gigi (Donnarumma) is clearly pushed, and there are no consequences.”
He explained: “I had the opportunity to see that clearly, and I think Barnes pushed Donnarumma away from the goal, we are very precise in some collisions, but in cases like these with the goalkeeper, it is counted, if this is the rule, that’s fine, but let’s do the same thing (in every similar decision).”
He continued: “In the past, it was counted as a foul, and now it seems to be allowed, it is a common habit that when losing, people say that you are trying to find excuses, but Newcastle was better today, they deserved to win because of that, they created more chances than us, but there must be a (fixed and clear) law.”
Diaz concluded: “We felt that we could finally press again, they are a strong team, and after we scored our goal, they advanced again. In the end, it was difficult to find spaces, we were fighting until the end, and we continued to press.”
Manchester City is preparing to face the German team Bayer Leverkusen next Tuesday, in the fifth round of the group stage of the Champions League.
